BRUSSELS (EJP)---European Union’s foreign policy chief Javier Solana will visit the Mideast on Wednesday at a moment when the international community is intensifying its efforts to relaunch the peace process and a few days after the elections held in Lebanon, his office said.
Solana will travel to Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Lebanon and Egypt.
In Israel, on Wednesday and Thursday, the EU official will meet Israeli President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, Defence Minister Ehud Barak and the leader of the opposition Kadima party, Tzipi Livni.
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Washington wants the stalled Middle East peace talks to resume soon and wrap up quickly, US envoy George Mitchell told Israeli leaders on Tuesday on his latest trip to the region.
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In the Palestinian Territories, on Friday, Solana will meet the President of the Palestinian National Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, and Saeb Erekat, Chief Negotiator.
The EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy will also meet Colonel Alain Faugeras, head of EUBAM Rafah, and Lucien Vermeir, deputy head of EUPOL COPPS.
In Lebanon, he will meet President Michel Sleimane, Parliament speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, and Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh, as well as representatives of different political forces. Following Sunday’s parliamentary elections in the country, which saw a pro-Western bloc inflicting a surprise defeat on Hezbollah, Solana called for "the formation of a coalition government as soon as possible."
Solana will also visit Egypt where he will have meetings with President Hosni Mubarak and Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit.
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Javier Solana last week called President Obama's speech in Cairo 'a remarkable speech, both in its content and in its form.' 'It was a speech that without any doubt will open a new page in relations with the Arab-Muslim world'.
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His Mideast trip comes one week after US President Barack Obama’s landmark speech in Cairo in which he stressed the need of a two-state solution to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will respond to Obama’s speech in a major address next Sunday at Bar Ilan University in Tel Aviv in which he is expected to discuss the future of settlement construction, the establishment of a Palestinian state and lay out his plans for Israel's relations with the Palestinian Authority.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is due to meet his EU counterparts in next Monday in Brussels.
During his visit to Israel, Solana will discuss what Netanyahu plans to say in his address. On the agenda of the EU foreign policy chief talks is also the future of the process to upgrade relations between Israel and the European Union.