EU foreign policy chief to visit Gaza in March
Catherine Ashton will be the first senior EU figure to enter Hamas-ruled terrirory in over a year.
By DPA Tags: Hamas Israel news GazaThe European Union's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, said Saturday she was planning to stop in Gaza during an upcoming Middle East trip later on this month.
It would be the first high-level visit in over a year of an EU representative in the area, which is under an Israeli blockade and is ruled by Hamas, a Palestinian movement listed as a terrorist organization by the EU and the United States.
"I have asked to go to Gaza, yes," Ashton said at the start of the second and last days of talks with EU foreign ministers in Cordoba, Spain.
She added that she does not have a precise date yet, but pointed out that her Middle East trip "starts a week on Sunday."
Ashton's predecessor Javier Solana last visited Gaza in February 2009, in the aftermath of an Israeli invasion that caused significant destruction in the area.
Israel intervened and launched a large-scale military operation in late December 2008 with the aim to stop rocket launches from Gaza, which it blames on Hamas.
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EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton hopes to visit Gaza in March. |
| Photo by: (Reuters) |
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... not to interfere with the real powers - the Prime Ministerss of the big three. As such, they may want to prove their 'power'.Anti-Semitism is an easy way and Ashton has already proven she goes an easy line.. In fact, this Ashton Lady didn't even have the common sense to visit Haiti after the earthquake that killed over 200,000 people, although Europe sent lots of help, of course without checking with her. Hillary went but not that "Lady". Instead she'll visit Gaza...and give us a lesson.
Such statements understandably give rise to much fevered speculation-- which is good--because, with the price of today's movie tickets, speculation (fevered or otherwise) offers the more financially challenged among us an economical alternative for entertainment.
as "European Foreign minister"