Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the EC, went to the Middle East where she met with Ehud Barak, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, and Avigdor Liberman, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, on the 1st day.
During the 2nd day, she visited the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) School of the Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem. Catherine Ashton also visited the Church of the Nativity. To conclude this journey, she met with Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority, and Salam Fayyad, Prime Minister and Minister for Finance of the Palestinian Authority, in Ramallah.