Foreign minister to visit Israel, Palestine

The Czech foreign minister, Jan Kohout, will visit Israel and the Palestinian territories on Wednesday, at the end of the Czech presidency of the EU. His agenda will include talks on the current situation in the Middle East following the Cairo speech by US President Barack Obama, and on the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip. During the trip, Mr Kohout will meet with his Israeli counterpart, Avigdor Lieberman, as well as with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

Foreign Minister Jan Kohout also wants to evaluate the situation in the Middle East after six months of the Czech EU presidency. In the beginning of the Czech term at the helm of the block in January, Czech officials dealt with the crisis following the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip.