Abbas accepts return of US to broker peace process

Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas has told his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi that he would accept US mediation of the peace process, Arab48.com reported yesterday.

Abbas accepted this on the condition that he is part of the international effort. An unnamed Palestinian source said: “Abbas told Al-Sisi that he accepts the return of US mediation even without the abolition of the US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.”

Abbas also met EU foreign ministers in Brussels in an effort to mobilise EU support for recognising the Palestinian state and internationalising the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

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Palestinian sources said that the EU would not currently recognise the Palestinian state.

These developments came during US Vice President Mike Pence’s visit to the region. He met Egyptian and Jordanian leaders before heading to Israel.

In Amman, Pence told the Jordanian President that he believed that the two-state is the best solution for the Israeli-Palestinian cause, but in Israel he backtracked and stressed that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital, a measure that destroys the two-state solution.