The European Union foreign policy director, Catherine Ashton, is scheduled to enter the Gaza Strip next Thursday, in a breakthrough visit to a diplomatic no-go area, dpa quoted officials as saying today. Ashton obtained permission to enter by Israel, which imposed a blockade on the strip after invading it briefly in late 2008 to stop rocket fire. In announcing her trip, Ashton was careful to avoid mentioning any possible contact with Gaza's rulers of Hamas. "I am hopeful to visit 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 said in a statement released in Brussels. Ashton's visit is part of a wider Middle East trip, undertaken ahead of a February 19 meeting in Moscow of the Quartet - a group of Middle East peace sponsors comprising of the EU, the United States, Russia and the United Nations. According to a schedule seen by dpa, the EU's top diplomat is to start her journey in Egypt on Sunday. She is then expected to travel to Syria late Monday, and move on to Lebanon a day later. On Wednesday she is due to stop in Jordan, before setting off for Israel. On Thursday, after visiting Gaza and holding talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials in Al-Quds and Ramallah, she is expected to leave for Moscow. The visit also takes place amidst increased uncertainty over the start of US-mediated proximity talks between the Israeli and the Palestinians. In her statement, Ashton said there was "a sense of urgency at the moment and a need to make progress on the Arab-Israeli conflict," and stressed that its resolution was "a key European interest."
