EU's Ashton to tour Middle East from Sunday
(BRUSSELS) - European Union foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton will begin a five-day tour of Middle East hotspots on Sunday, her office said.
The English baroness will visit Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories and give a platform speech in Egypt, before attending a meeting of the Middle East Quartet in Moscow.
"My visit is a sign of the importance the EU attaches to broad and deep relations with our Mediterranean partners and the Arab world," Ashton said in a statement released on Friday.
Citing "a sense of urgency" in the "need to make progress on the Arab-Israeli conflict, she said she would be taking "a clear message" that dialogue seeking peace must not grind to another halt.
Ashton on Wednesday urged Israel to reverse a controversial decision to build 1,600 new homes in occupied east Jerusalem that she warned could throttle peace talks.
Israel said on Monday that it had authorised a visit to the Hamas-run Gaza Strip enclave through its territory by United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon and Ashton.
However, Ashton said in announcing her March 14-18 trip that she was now only "hopeful" of visiting Gaza.
"The EU is a major contributor of aid and I want to see for myself how we are spending our money and what kind of impact it has on the ground," she stressed.
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