Middle East News
EU's Ashton: Israeli-Palestinian peace talks "urgent" (Extra)
Mar 15, 2010, 15:22 GMT
Cairo - Israeli-Palestinian peace talks are 'urgent,' top EU diplomat Catherine Ashton on Monday told the Arab League in Cairo, at the start of her first tour of the region since taking office.
'These talks are urgent,' Ashton said. 'Urgent because I fear for the future. Urgent, because Israel has a popular prime minister who owes it to his people to move to the (two-state) solution he supports. Urgent, because the Palestinians, despite everything ... are willing to engage.'
Ashton, in an address that was widely seen as her first major test since assuming the helm of the European Union's diplomatic efforts, confirmed that she would travel to the Gaza Strip as part of a whirlwind tour that will also take her to Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the West Bank.
'The blockade of Gaza is unacceptable,' she said. 'It has created enormous human suffering and greatly harms the potential to move forward.
'I will travel to Gaza myself to meet with the population on the ground and at the same assess how our support is working on the ground,' Ashton added.
The European Union is the largest contributor to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, and yearly spends roughly 1 billion euros in the Palestinian territories.
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