Mahmud Abbas to demand EU recognise Palestinian state: Senior official

Mahmud Abbas will tell the EU it should take the step “as a way to respond” to US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the Israeli capital

Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas will ask the EU to officially recognise the state of Palestine when he meets foreign ministers from the bloc on Monday, a senior official told AFP Sunday.

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas attends the Christmas Midnight Mass for the Greek Orthodox as Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III leads it at the Church of the Nativity in the biblical West Bank town of Bethlehem on January 7, 2018, / AFP PHOTO / Musa AL SHAER (AFP)

Palestinian foreign minister Riad al-Malki said Abbas will tell the EU 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.