The EU's foreign policy supremo, Mr Javier Solana, was due to fly to the Middle East last night to encourage the Israeli and Palestinian authorities to take steps to de-escalate tension in the region. EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg urged both sides to avoid fresh provocation that could lead to further violence.
"The European Union is convinced that two peoples who must coexist have no other option than immediately to resume the negotiated path to peace, to which Israelis and Palestinians have both, in recent weeks, overcome so many obstacles hitherto considered insurmountable," the ministers said in a statement.
Mr Solana is expected to visit Beirut and Damascus before he meets the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ehud Barak, and the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mr Yasser Arafat.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, suggested that Mr Solana could help to mediate a solution to the stand-off between Israel and the Hizbollah concerning the three Israeli soldiers taken hostage in southern Lebanon over the weekend.
The German government called yesterday on Israel and the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table.
Only talks, and not violence, can solve the Middle East conflict, the deputy government spokeswoman Ms Charima Reinhardt said.
She said the German government was following the present clashes with great concern and hoped that international efforts would lead to a de-escalation in violence.
Mr Arafat made his third visit to Egypt in 10 days yesterday to discuss the crisis. Mr Arafat held talks with President Hosni Mubarak amid a flurry of international diplomatic activity aimed at stopping the bloodshed. He then returned to Gaza.
Egypt's Information Minister, Mr Safwat el-Sherif, said: "Mubarak stressed the importance of securing a ceasefire, halting the deterioration in the peace process, and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Palestinian-ruled areas."
