The European Union pledged its support Monday for Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas’ vision of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. On Monday, PA chairman Abbas met with European Union Foreign Affairs High Representative Federica Mogherini in the EU capital in Brussels, in a bid by the PA leader to win recognition for Palestinian statehood from the 28-member European body. The trip, which coincides with Vice President Mike Pence’s three-day visit to Israel, is part of a
larger effort to circumvent the US, the traditional broker of PA-Israel negotiations, and push to take a more active role in the Middle East. On Sunday, the PA’s foreign affairs chief Riyad Al-Maliki told AFP that the “rules of the game” had been fundamentally altered by President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital. “Since Trump’s decision has altered the rules of the game, he (Abbas) expects the European foreign ministers to come forward and collectively recognize the state of Palestine as a way to respond back to Trump’s decision,” Maliki said. READ MORE
