Italian FM to Meet Abbas, Visit Ashdod
Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini will on Tuesday visit an Israeli town hit by rocket strikes from Gaza and meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas as part of a diplomatic push for peace, her ministry said.
Mogherini "will be in Ramallah this afternoon to meet president Mahmud Abbas and foreign minister Riyad al-Malki", the ministry said in a statement.
It also said Mogherini would travel to Ashdod, a southern port town close to the border with the Gaza Strip, along with Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, and visit a home hit by a rocket attack.
A Gaza rocket struck the town earlier on Tuesday, just hours after Israel agreed to abide by an Egyptian truce that was rejected by Hamas.
Mogherini is expected to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres on Wednesday, as well as visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial.
A 41-year-old who has only been in government since February, Mogherini is seen as a possible pick for a European Commission post or to be the EU's next foreign policy chief.
Source: Agence France Presse
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