PALESTINIAN leader Mahmoud Abbas will ask the EU to officially recognise the state of Palestine when he meets foreign ministers from the bloc today, a senior official said yesterday.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki said Abbas will tell the European Union it should take the step “as a way to respond” to US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the Israeli capital.

Abbas will also “reiterate his commitment to the peace process” in the Middle East, Malki said in an interview with AFP in Brussels.

A week ago, Abbas denounced Trump’s efforts to resolve the long-running conflict as the “slap of the century” and caused alarm by saying Israel had sunk the so-called Oslo accords that underpin the stalled peace process.

“Since Trump’s decision has altered the rules of the game, he (Abbas) expects the European foreign ministers to come forward and collectively recognise the state of Palestine as a way to respond back to Trump’s decision,” Malki said.

Abbas’ talks in Brussels come as US Vice-President Mike Pence visits Israel during a tour of the Middle East with Arab anger still smouldering over Washington’s hugely contentious decision on Jerusalem.

Abbas and the Palestinian leadership are refusing to meet Pence because of the declaration, making his visit a rare one by a high-ranking US official not to include talks with the Palestinians. – AFP, January 22, 2018.