Abbas, PA to Test Europeans: Lip-Service or Support and Action

The European Union and individual European nations have long been at odds with the United States’ policies regarding the Palestinians. The EU would frequently support Palestinian positions clearly out of synch with American policy, particularly in regard to allowances Washington makes for Israeli positions regarding building in areas conquered in the 1967 war that the Palestinians claim for their state-in-waiting. Most of the EU member states can be counted on to vote for Palestinian positions in the United Nations General Assembly and in UN-associated organizations with the same certainty that most US administrations have used the American veto to kill anti-Israel resolutions. Now, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is asking for the Europeans to replace rhetoric with action. Having dismissed the Trump Administration as being unfit to be an honest broker and vowing to boycott any Washington-originating peace efforts, Abbas will find out just how far the Europeans will go. First and foremost, Abbas wants the EU to formally recognize the state of Palestine as the definitive response to the Trump Jerusalem declaration. But diplomats appear to be more interested in waiting to see the new American proposals before offering recognitions of statehood that could upset the diplomatic cart.