The European Union will host Mahmoud Abbas for talks later this month in a demonstrative gesture of support for the Palestinian president, EU officials said on Thursday. Islamic militant group Hamas’s victory over Abbas’s Fatah faction in a January 25 election prompted Israel to brand the moderate leader irrelevant and a “fig leaf” for Hamas, which has vowed to seek the destruction of the Jewish state. But the EU sees Abbas as vital to resolving the stand-off between Hamas and foreign donors such as itself over the group’s refusal so far to soften its stance or renounce violence. Full Story