Times of Israel reported Wednesday:
Top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat on Tuesday said the Palestinians would reject all United States-sponsored peace talks until Washington rescinded its December 6 recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.“The continued American talk about deals to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or calling for negotiations or talks is unacceptable to the Palestinian leadership, as long as Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is not revoked,” Erekat told the official Voice of Palestine radio station, according to the official PA news site Wafa.
It looks like the EU is anxious to try to fill the US’ role as a mediator. From the EU External Action website:
Norway’s Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide and EU’s High Representative Federica Mogherini have decided to convene an extraordinary session of the international donor group for Palestine, the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC).There is an urgent need to bring all parties together to discuss measures to speed up efforts that can underpin a negotiated two-state solution.
Furthermore it is necessary to enable the Palestinian Authority to execute full control over Gaza, based on the Cairo agreement from 12 October 2017.
The meeting will be held in Brussels on 31 January 2018 at Ministerial level, hosted by the European Union and chaired by Norway.
The impression I get from this is not that the EU particularly expects to gain any more traction towards peace than it has in the past 69 years. It sure feels like the EU sees an apparent vacuum created by the US and it wants to fill that vacuum by giving Palestinians more money and by tacitly agreeing with them that Jerusalem belongs to them as a basis for negotiations.
In this case, peace isn’t the goal – it is using the conflict to make the EU look more relevant.
Because if they wanted peace, taking Jerusalem off the table and admitting that it is Jewish is the single most effective move that the EU could make towards pushing Palestinians to compromise rather than insist on acting like a victor which can impose its terms on the region.
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