German Chancellor Merkel Angela Merkel met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday and called on Israel to show restraint with its settlement policy so as not to jeopardize the ongoing Middle East talks. In a joint press conference with Abbas in Berlin, Merkel said a grand-coalition government in Berlin would continue to provide aid to the Palestinian Territories. “We have always advocated a two-state solution. We have always advocated aiding and supporting the Palestinian Territories, advancing the peace process, advancing economic development and I am pretty sure we will conduct our foreign policy with this continuity,” Merkel said. …