Ashton dares desert diplomacy
Photo: Flickr.com/European Parliament
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton arrived in the Middle East this week amid escalating Israeli-Palestinian tension. Given the bad press she has received since being appointed, critics are now wondering what the baroness can bring to the table in this fragile diplomatic situation.
As rocks and rubber-coated bullets fill the Jerusalem air following the controversial reopening of a synagogue near Islam's third holiest site, relations between the United States and Israel are on a downward spiral over the controversial plan to build 1,600 homes for Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank.
With this recent turn of events, has the time finally come for Europe to make its mark in Middle East?
The EU's top diplomat Catherine Ashton certainly believes so, but doubts have started to circulate about whether she has what it takes to be a central player amidst all this chaos.
Ashton embarked on her first trip to the region on Sunday in an attempt to boost the European Union's profile during the Middle East peace talks, but experts are asking; does she have the clout to deliver.
In her speech during the first leg of her 5-day-tour starting in Cairo, she stated: "The primary purpose of my visit is to show the continued importance that the European Union attaches to the resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict. This is a vital European interest and is central to the solution of other problems in the region."
Baroness Ashton is scheduled to meet with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas today in the West Bank, followed by talks with Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman in Jerusalem. Her push for the peace process between both sides comes at a remarkably unstable time as Israel sees the worst rioting in years.
Although the United States upholds its title as main trading partner for Israel's exports, the European Union comes in as a close second, while also being the leading aid donor to the Palestinian territories. "We are providing a huge amount of aid into Gaza, and I'm very interested in making sure that we are seeing the benefits of that aid going in," Ashton announced last week.
Analysts say that with weakening diplomatic alliances between the United States and Israel, Europe's time to shine may have come, if Ashton can pass her biggest public foreign policy test yet.
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