European Union: Trump peace plan is a chance to re-launch talks

BRUSSELS – US President Donald Trump’s proposals to create a Palestinian state for Middle East peace are a chance to re-launch talks towards “a viable solution” for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the European Union said in a statement.

The initiative “provides an occasion to re-launch the urgently needed efforts towards a negotiated and viable solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell said on behalf of the bloc, adding that the EU would need to study and assess Trump’s proposals.However, the EU cautioned that Israel and the Palestinians needed to show “a genuine commitment to the two-state solution as the only realistic way to end the conflict.” Trump’s plan agrees to let Israel maintain control of long-contested West Bank settlements.