Abbas Wins EU Backing for East Beit-ul-Moqaddas

The European Union assured Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas it supported his plan to have East Beit-ul-Moqaddas as capital of a Palestinian state, in the bloc’s latest rejection of US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize the city as Israel’s capital. At a meeting in Brussels with EU foreign ministers, Abbas repeated his call for East Beit-ul-Moqaddas as capital as he urged EU governments to recognize a state of Palestine immediately, arguing that this would not disrupt negotiations with Israel on a peace settlement for the region, Channel News Asia reported. EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini, in what appeared to be a veiled reference to Trump’s recognition of Beit-ul-Moqaddas as capital of Israel, called on those involved in the process to speak and act “wisely”, with a sense of responsibility. “I want to reassure President Abbas of the firm commitment of the European Union to the two-state solution with Beit-ul-Moqaddas as the shared capital of the two states,” Mogherini said.