On the picture Federica Mogherini and Mahmoud Abbas – Photography by European Union.
Monday, 22 January 2018, Brussels: The European Union assured Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas its support for his ambition to convert East Jerusalem into the capital of an internationally recognized Palestinian state. This being the EU bloc’s latest rejection of US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital unilaterally.
At a meeting in Brussels held with EU foreign ministers, Abbas repeated his call for East Jerusalem as capital as he urged EU governments to recognise a State of Palestine summarily, arguing that this would not disrupt negotiations with Israel on a peace settlement for the region.
President Abbas also struck a more diplomatic tone than in his recent public remarks, including earlier this month when he said he would only accept a broad, internationally-backed panel to broker any peace talks with Israel.
While nine EU governments including Sweden and Poland already recognise Palestine, the 28-nation bloc says such recognition must come as part of a peace settlement. Only Slovenia has recently raised the possibility of recognising the state of Palestine.
For further information:
Palestine Cabinet: http://www.
