The European Union's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, announced a surprise visit to the Middle East on Thursday, in a bid to help US-led efforts to overcome a possible crisis in peace negotiations. Palestinians are considering walking out of recently started talks after Israel refused to renew a freeze on settlement building on occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank. Since the moratorium expired on Sunday, the US has been working to prevent a crisis blowing over. In a bid to support those efforts, Ashton said she would go to the Middle East "directly from the United States," where she met US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other leading officials from US President Barack Obama's administration. In a statement, dpa quoted Ashton as saying she would talk to both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in order to urge them both "to find a satisfactory way for negotiations to continue and gather momentum." Ashton, who earlier this month was invited by EU leaders to "continue to fully associate the EU to ongoing (Middle East peace) efforts," was also scheduled to have talks with US Mideast envoy George Mitchell.
