Palestinian President Abu Mazen will ask the European Union to officially recognize the State of Palestine during the meeting scheduled today in Brussels with EU foreign ministers.
Riad al-Malki, Palestinian Foreign Minister, interviewed by France Presse, said that Abbas "expects European foreign ministers to recognize the State of Palestine as a way to respond" to the decision of US President Donald Trump to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. For his part, the Palestinian leader "will reiterate his commitment to the peace process" in the Middle East, "will say that he does not abandon the peace process".
The head of the Palestinian Authority will be received for a working lunch by the head of the EU diplomacy, Federica Mogherini, and by the 28 foreign ministers on the sidelines of their monthly meeting, as happened last month with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The head of Palestinian diplomacy said that "If Europeans want to play a role, then they must be fair in dealing with both sides and this should start with the recognition of the State of Palestine".
In Brussels, however, diplomats and officials have ruled out that a recognition of Palestine can be achieved, as this is a decision that the EU leaves to individual Member States, underlining that the best result that Abu Mazen could achieve is moving towards a " Association Agreement "to the EU.