European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton extended a Middle East trip on Wednesday to hold more talks aimed at averting a Palestinian bid for statehood at the United Nations, officials said.
Ashton is in the region to meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders as well as diplomats from Arab countries, part of an intense international effort to revive peace talks.
Senior U.S. envoys were due in the Middle East as well this week, in what appears to be a last-ditch push to dissuade the Palestinians from seeking to upgrade their U.N. status this month -- a step Israel strongly opposes.
Washington has expressed concern that bringing the issue of Palestinian statehood to the United Nations would damage prospects for new peace talks aimed at creating a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
Ashton said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had asked her for an additional meeting, beyond those planned, and she accepted.
"I met this morning with the Prime Minister and will stay longer than I planned, at (his) request, so that we can talk again this evening," Ashton said in a statement.
"I hope that in the coming days what we'll be able to achieve together will be something that enables the negotiations to start," she said. She gave no details of the talks.
Ashton has worked intensely in recent months to build up the EU's credentials as a Middle East power broker, but her efforts are complicated by internal divisions in Europe over the Palestinians' plans.
The 27-member EU could split into opposing camps if the Palestinians bring the issue of statehood up for a vote at the United Nations, with some states backing the efforts and others likely to oppose them.
The EU, the largest international aid donor to the Palestinians, is already a member of the Quartet of Middle East negotiators, alongside the United States, Russia and the United Nations.
But European states have limited leverage in the region and face a degree of mistrust from Israel which questions their close ties with the Palestinians.
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