EU's top diplomat to visit Netanyahu, Abbas next week

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini will visit the Middle East next week for talks on the peace process with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, Brussels said today.
Her visit on Wednesday and Thursday, which comes just days after Netanyahu started a new term as Israeli premier, will be "to discuss the bilateral relations as well as prospects for the Middle East Peace Process," her office said.
The former Italian foreign minister will also meet a number of other Israeli and Palestinian officials, the statement from her office said without giving further details or the exact venue of the talks.

Mogherini took over as foreign policy chief for the 28-nation European Union in November and visited Israel and the Palestinian territories shortly afterwards, saying she wanted to make a priority of pushing forward the Middle East peace process.
She has been criticised in Israel for her vocal insistence that a two-state solution is the only way forward and for her condemnation of Israeli settlement-building.