The head of European diplomacy, Catherine Ashton, started Thursday its Middle East tour, which on Friday will bring Israel and the Palestinian territories to try to boost the stalled Middle East peace , as reported Wednesday by the Commission Europe.
The High Representative of the European Union will arrive in Israel and the Palestinian territories from Jordan , where he will meet today with the Jordanian Foreign Minister, Nasser Judeh .
Several meetings
On Friday and Sunday hold meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders .
Specifically, Ashton will meet Friday with Israeli Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, and the opposition leader, Tzipi Livni, and with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayad.
Saturday will be moved to Egypt , where he held at the headquarters of the Arab League meeting in Cairo of the Group, which includes organizations that support a democratic transition in Libya .
Ashton will address the international community's response to the conflict in Libya with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the president of the Commission of the African Union (AU), Jean Ping, and representatives of the Organization of Islamic Conference.
Will meet Sunday in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Arab Spring
His visit to the Middle East comes six months after the outbreak of the Arab spring and a " key moment "for the peace process , according to the EC.
In a statement, Ashton announced that in his meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders will encourage them to "seize the opportunity for negotiation."
"With the momentous events taking place in North Africa and after the speech of the president (Barack) Obama last month, is more urgent than ever to relaunch the peace process in the Middle East," he said.
Ashton's trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories takes place after he sent a letter to Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov and Ban Ki Moon.
In the letter, Ashton calls for a "strong signal" and a "gesture before the summer" by the Middle East Quartet (U.S., Russia, the EU and the UN) to encourage Israelis and Palestinians to resume peace talks.
The High Representative also considers that "it is time for unilateral action."
Dialogue between Israel and Palestine
The leadership of the Palestinian territories want to ask the UN in September to "acceptance" as a full member based on the 1967 borders , ie between Gaza and the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
"I think what is needed now is (send) a clear signal to the parties and a framework that should allow them to return to the negotiating table," he explains.
Considers that the Quartet should decide as soon as possible, taking advantage of Obama's speech on May 19, in which his vision of peace between Israelis and Palestinians, and proposed that negotiations be resumed based on the 1967 but with modifications are agreed, but Israel has flatly rejected .
"I believe that as heads of the Quartet should meet to adopt a declaration to strengthen these elements and thus provide the parties to a framework," said Ashton.
"It is critical that we make a gesture before the summer because we have to help calm a volatile situation that promises to go further as the years pass," the letter concludes.
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