Rockets rain on Ashton's parade
Ms Ashton met Israeli President Shimon Peres on her visit
Photo: ANP
Rocket-fire, death, strong words and humanitarian issues …if new EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton was under any illusions that solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would be easy, her maiden voyage to the troubled region will have laid those doubts to rest.
The foreign policy chief was only an hour into her visit to the Gaza Strip when a rocket fired from the Palestinian territory killed a migrant agricultural worker on the Israeli side of the border. Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom told reporters that the response “will be strong.”
Ms Ashton was also quick to condemn the attack. “I condemn any kind of violence. We have got to find a peaceful solution to the issues and problems,” she told journalists.
She also took the opportunity to stress the urgent need for aid in Gaza, which has been under an Israeli blockade since Hamas came to power in the narrow strip in 2007.
Ashton heads to Moscow next to begin work on a solution for the Middle East in a high level meeting with Quartet members Russia, the US, and the UN. Analysts argue that Ashton has neither the experience nor diplomatic muscle to play a commanding role in the process.
She is more likely to bring a humanitarian voice to the table, as the EU is the largest contributor of aid to the Palestinians, donating over €1 billion a year.
Finding a solution to the seemingly intractable conflict has seen some of the world’s most powerful and skilful diplomats come up empty handed, so whether Lady Ashton can increase EU influence or whether they are doomed to remain payers and not players remains to be seen.
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