RAMALLAH
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said Wednesday that the European bloc was committed to supporting the Middle East peace process and establishing an independent Palestinian state.
After a meeting in Ramallah with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Mogherini added that the EU would work to resuscitate the Middle East peace process in collaboration with the U.S., Russia and the United Nations.
Mogherini unveiled plans to meet with a host of regional officials in order to discuss the possibility of resuming Palestinian-Israeli peace talks.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, meanwhile, said that, during his meeting with Mogherini, Abbas had stressed his commitment to working towards peace with the ultimate aim of establishing a Palestinian state inside 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
However, Erekat said, Abbas had "asserted that… Israel must halt all settlement building and accept a two-state formula."
He accused Israel of maintaining a policy of unbridled settlement construction and had violated the rights of both Muslims and Christians to Jerusalem by referring to the city as its "undivided capital".
The roots of the current conflict between Palestinians and Israelis dates back to 1917, when the British government – in the now-famous "Balfour Declaration" – called for the establishment in Palestine of a "national home for the Jewish people."
Israel occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank during the 1967 Middle East War. It later annexed the holy city in 1980, claiming it as the capital of the self-proclaimed Jewish state in a move never recognized by the international community.
Palestinians want a state of their own in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, with East Jerusalem – currently occupied by Israel – as its capital.
Palestinian-Israeli peace talks ground to a halt almost one year ago when Israel failed to honor earlier pledges to release a group of Palestinian prisoners.
