Europe's top diplomat visited the West Bank Thursday, in renewed international efforts to resuscitate the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process dpa reported
In a statement issued to sum up her visit, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said that "urgent progress is needed towards a two state solution with Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security as part of a just and comprehensive peace."
She proposed the so-called Quartet of the US, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union meet "as soon as possible" to find a solution to the impasse in the peace talks, and suggested that the Munich Security Conference in early February would be a "good opportunity" for this.
Ashton's visit comes as the Palestinian delegation to the United Nations may as early as next week submit to the Security Council a proposed resolution condemning Israeli settlements, a move aimed at stepping up international pressure on Israel to implement the two- state solution.
Following talks with Israeli officials in Jerusalem on Wednesday, Ashton made the short road journey to nearby Ramallah for a tour with Acting Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to be followed by lunch with President Mahmoud Abbas.
Fayyad took Ashton to a hilltop overlooking a large stretch of "Area C" - West Bank land fully controlled by Israel under the 1993 Oslo interim accords.
The Oslo accords granted the Palestinians full autonomous control over sections of the West Bank categorized as "Area A" and partial control over "Area B" land.
Israel's settlements are all on land categorized as "Area C." Fayyad said he showed Ashton how Palestinians are unable to develop the Israeli-controlled land below the hilltop.
"She saw for herself how close it is to area A. She saw the potential to develop this area and what it means for those living in Area C. And what it means for us Palestinians not to be able to pursue development in this area," Fayyad said.
"It is important for us to continue to draw attention to this as we continue to move forward in our endeavour for statehood," he told reporters before continuing his talks with Ashton, who made no comments, in his Ramallah office.
Ashton said ahead of her trip, which her office said sought to "confirm the commitment of the European Union to the peace process" and to urge Israel to lift its Gaza blockade, that "urgent progress" was needed in the efforts to revive direct peace talks.
"There is no alternative to a negotiated solution," she said.
In her statement Wednesday, she repeated that the Gaza crossings "must be opened to allow the flow of humanitarian aid, imports, exports and people."
She praised recent Israeli decisions on easing the blockade as "steps in the right direction," but called for "further efforts and complementary measures to achieve a fundamental change of policy that allows for the reconstruction and economic recovery of Gaza while addressing Israel's legitimate security concerns."
Washington managed to help launch negotiations between Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on September 2, nearly 18 months after the nationalist Israeli leader took office at the head of a right-leaning coalition.
But the direct talks collapsed just three weeks later when a partial Israeli settlement freeze expired.
Since then, Abbas has refused to sit down with Netanyahu, unless he implements a new settlement freeze. Netanyahu has said he wants direct negotiations without preconditions.
Ashton's visit comes after diplomatic activity began anew this week following a break of at least one week during the holidays.
Netanyahu Thursday traveled to the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm e-Sheikh for talks with Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak about the efforts to break the current peace process stalemate.
He was accompanied by Trade and Industry Minister Benjamin Ben- Eliezer, of the Labour Party, Netanyahu's only dovish coalition partner. Ben-Eliezer earlier this week threatened his party would quit the government in two months if meaningful peace negotiations did not take place by then
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