Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas calls on EU nations to recognize Palestinian state

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas called upon European Union nations on Friday to recognize a Palestinian state, according to an AFP report.

According to the report, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said Abbas had held a meeting with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, during which he "affirmed that the Palestinian position was to resume the peace process" with Israel and expected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resume negotiations and stop settlement construction, especially in occupied Jerusalem.

"We are calling on the European Union to help us on the question of moving the United Nations to accept Palestine on the basis of the 1967 borders," Erakat was quoted as saying by the official Palestinian news agency WAFA in the AFP report.

Ashton met with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and President Abbas Friday in the West Bank after she met with Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman in occupied Jerusalem.

Ashton will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday.