RAMALLAH, West Bank — During a joint press conference held Jan. 22 with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini at the EU headquarters in Brussels, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on European Union member states to recognize the State of Palestine.
Abbas’ adviser for diplomatic affairs Majdi al-Khalidi, who accompanied the president to Brussels, told Al-Monitor, “President Abbas asked the EU countries to recognize the State of Palestine as soon as possible.” According to Khalidi, Abbas also expressed the Palestinians’ desire to find a new negotiations formula through the Quartet and other countries such as Japan or China, or to set up a new mechanism involving permanent members of the UN Security Council along with other countries.
