European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said overnight Tuesday that there is "no alternative to a negotiated deal," ahead of her trip to Israel on Wednesday.
"Urgent progress is now needed towards a lasting Israeli-Palestinian peace and the European Union will continue to support all efforts towards that goal," Ashton said.
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Ashton is expected to arrive on Wednesday for
meetings in Jerusalem with Israeli leaders, followed by meetings in Ramallah on
Thursday with the Palestinian Authority leadership.
Ashton's expected visit comes after
diplomatic
activity began anew on Tuesday with a meeting in Jerusalem between Prime
Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Quartet envoy Tony Blair. The meeting following a more than weeklong hiatus in international involvement in the
diplomatic process because of the Christmas and New Year holidays.
On Thursday,
Netanyahu is scheduled to travel to Sharm e-Sheikh for a meeting with
Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak dealing with ways to break the current
diplomatic
stalemate. Netanyahu will be accompanied on that visit by Industry,
Trade
and Labor Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, who is considered to have good
relations with the Egyptians. Ben- Eliezer, a Labor party minister,
threatened
earlier this week that his party would quit the government in two months
in the
absence of any meaningful diplomatic process.
White House senior advisor
Dennis Ross is expected to arrive for further talks in the coming days.
Ross was
last here some two weeks ago.