On Monday 22 January, President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas urged the European states that have not yet done so to recognise the state of Palestine.
"I call for a swift recognition of the state of Palestine", he said when arriving at the EU Foreign Affairs Council, where he had lunch with the European foreign ministers. In Abbas's view, "there is no contradiction between recognition of the state of Palestine and the resumption of negotiations" with Israel. Indeed, he...