EU Foreign Exec Mogherini due in Israel, Ramallah

The European Union’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini arrives in Israel Wednesday for talks with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on ways to get back to talks. Mogherini said this week that the EU means to take an active part in reviving the talks on the basis of a two-state solution. “The status quo is not an option,” she said.

 The prime minister is expected to designate Interior Minister Silvan Shalom to lead those talks – if and when they resume after almost a year’s pause. His predecessor Tzipi Livni was accompanied by Netanyahu’s adviser Yitzhak Molcho in her contacts with the Palestinians, who are meanwhile pressiung ahead with their unilateral drive for international recognition while refusing to hold negotiations with Israel.