US
vice President Mike Pence is seen with Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu during an official welcome ceremony at the
Prime Minister's Office on January 22, 2018 in Jerusalem,
Israel.
Lior Mizrahi/Getty
Images
US Vice President Mike Pence told Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he hopes to usher in a "new
era" of Middle East peace talks.
Pence also told the Israeli Knesset that the US was
planning to move its embassy to Jerusalem by 2019.
Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas traveled
to Brussels to ask EU ministers to broker future peace
deals.
US Vice President Mike Pence told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu that he hopes to usher in a "new era" of Middle East
peace talks, while the Palestinians have scorned US efforts and
are turning to other global leaders for support.
During his official visit to Israel on Monday, Pence told
reporters it was a "great honor" to be meeting in "Israel's
capital, Jerusalem," referencing President Donald Trump's
controversial decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's
capital.
Pence added that he was hopeful that the US had helped spur a
"new era of renewed discussions" about regional peace.
In a speech to the Israeli Knesset, Netanyahu said: "The close
bond between the US and Israel is stronger than ever." He added
that during Pence's visit, they would discuss US efforts “to halt
Iran’s aggression, the Iranian nuclear program, and ways to
advance peace and security in the region.”
Pence later told the Knesset that the US was planning to move its
embassy to Jerusalem by 2019.
Before arriving in Israel,
Pence met with the leaders of Egypt and Jordan and urged them
to encourage Palestinian leadership to return to peace
negotiations, according to officials who were traveling with
Pence.
Pence will not be meeting with Palestinian leaders,
who protested Pence's visit following outrage over Trump's
Jerusalem decision in December.
Instead, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas traveled to Brussels
and met with EU ministers to discuss future peace plans.
European
High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini
welcomes Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Brussels,
Belgium, January 22, 2018.
REUTERS/Yves Herman
European Union Foreign Policy chief Federica Mogherini said the
EU is ready to take a “central role” alongside the US in
mediating talks between Israel and the Palestine.
“We affirmed our conviction that the framework has to be
multilateral," Mogherini said. "We will continue working within
the Quartet, which includes the US, Russia and the UN, enlarging
this to a few Arab countries, and possibly Norway.”
“The Palestinian president was perfectly fine with this idea of
not having the United States as the only interlocutor for the
peace process, but of having a multilateral framework in which
the European Union has a central role that is together with
others, including our partners in the Quartet, including the
United States,” she added.
Abbas has previously said that Trump's decision to recognize
Jerusalem as Israel's capital was a "crime" and that he will
no longer accept any role for the US in a peace process.
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