<p>The European Union should recognise a Palestinian state after the United States expressed support for Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said on Wednesday.</p>.<p>Monday's announcement by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo abandoned the position that settlements in Israeli-occupied territory were "inconsistent with international law", reversing a stand taken under President Jimmy Carter in 1978.</p>.<p>Palestinians say the settlements jeopardise their goal of a state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and that the U.S. move will make an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal even more elusive.</p>.<p>"Recognising Palestine as a state would be neither a favour nor a carte blanche but rather a mere recognition of the right of the Palestinian people to its own state," Asselborn told Reuters. "It would not be meant against Israel," he said, but a measure intended to pave the way for a two-state solution.</p>.<p>The Trump administration's decision was a victory for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is struggling to remain in power after two inconclusive Israeli elections this year, and a defeat for the Palestinians.</p>.<p>It could deliver a new blow to Trump's efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through a peace plan that has been in the works for more than two years but has drawn widespread scepticism even before its release.</p>.<p>The EU said after the U.S. announcement that it continued to believe that Israeli settlement building in occupied Palestinian territory was illegal under international law.</p>.<p>The European Parliament adopted a resolution in 2014 supporting Palestinian statehood in principle. The motion was a compromise reached after lawmakers on the left sought to urge the EU's 28 member states to recognise Palestine unconditionally.</p>.<p>Since the collapse of U.S.-sponsored peace talks in 2014, Israel has pressed on with building settlements in territory the Palestinians want for their future state.</p>.<p>More than 135 countries already recognise a Palestinian state, including several east European countries that did so before they joined the EU.</p>
<p>The European Union should recognise a Palestinian state after the United States expressed support for Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said on Wednesday.</p>.<p>Monday's announcement by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo abandoned the position that settlements in Israeli-occupied territory were "inconsistent with international law", reversing a stand taken under President Jimmy Carter in 1978.</p>.<p>Palestinians say the settlements jeopardise their goal of a state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and that the U.S. move will make an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal even more elusive.</p>.<p>"Recognising Palestine as a state would be neither a favour nor a carte blanche but rather a mere recognition of the right of the Palestinian people to its own state," Asselborn told Reuters. "It would not be meant against Israel," he said, but a measure intended to pave the way for a two-state solution.</p>.<p>The Trump administration's decision was a victory for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is struggling to remain in power after two inconclusive Israeli elections this year, and a defeat for the Palestinians.</p>.<p>It could deliver a new blow to Trump's efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through a peace plan that has been in the works for more than two years but has drawn widespread scepticism even before its release.</p>.<p>The EU said after the U.S. announcement that it continued to believe that Israeli settlement building in occupied Palestinian territory was illegal under international law.</p>.<p>The European Parliament adopted a resolution in 2014 supporting Palestinian statehood in principle. The motion was a compromise reached after lawmakers on the left sought to urge the EU's 28 member states to recognise Palestine unconditionally.</p>.<p>Since the collapse of U.S.-sponsored peace talks in 2014, Israel has pressed on with building settlements in territory the Palestinians want for their future state.</p>.<p>More than 135 countries already recognise a Palestinian state, including several east European countries that did so before they joined the EU.</p>