PRAGUE – EU foreign policy chiefs began a mission to seek a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip yesterday but acknowledged they faced a difficult task.
“It is absolutely necessary that violence has to stop,” EU external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said in Prague before flying to Egypt as part of an EU delegation led by Czech foreign minister Karel Schwarzenberg.
The mission will also include EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and the foreign ministers of France and Sweden, who are due to meet the leaders of Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Jordan during the three-day trip.
French president Nicolas Sarkozy planned a separate trip. – (Reuters)