Months into her tenure as the European Union high representative for foreign affairs, Catherine Ashton has announced she is discussing with Israel the possibility of traveling to Gaza as part of a Middle East tour this month.

"We are providing a huge amount of aid into Gaza and I'm very interested to make sure that we are seeing the benefits of that aid going in," she told reporters at an EU foreign ministers meeting in Cordoba, Spain.

"I have asked to go to Gaza, we'll see what happens."

Ashton added she wants to take a more active role in negotiating a peaceful end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and in helping Palestinian authorities build up their state institutions.

Her Middle East tour is scheduled to begin on March 14 in Egypt, followed by visits to Israel, Syria and Jordan.

Following the trip, she will attend a meeting in Moscow of the so-called Quartet of Middle East negotiators: the United States, Russia, the EU and the United Nations.

Greater influence

Ashton took her job as chief of EU foreign policy in December along with the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, which aims to increase the bloc's global influence.

If allowed, her trip to Gaza would be a rare allowance for Israel, which maintains a strict blockade on the Hamas-controlled region.

Last week Irish Foreign Minister Michael Martin became the first European foreign minister to visit the area in more than a year.

At the meeting in Cordoba, he urged the EU and other powers to step up pressure on Israel to end its blockade.

"I am in no doubt that this is a very inhumane and unacceptable blockade and siege, very counter-productive to a peace process," he told reporters on Friday, referring to Gaza's malnutrition and poor drinking water.

Meanwhile the Arab League expressed support on Wednesday for indirect talks between Israel and Palestine, which EU officials have praised.

acb/dpa/AFP/AP/Reuters
Editor: Andreas Illmer