Together with his colleagues Franco Frattini (Italy), William Hague (Britain), Bernard Kouchner (France) and Miguel Moratinos (Spain), Federal Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle today (5 July) thanked Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman for proposing that the Ministers visit Gaza.

In their joint reply, the Foreign Ministers stated that they looked forward to taking up this offer and hoped that the measures announced by the Israeli Government with regard to Gaza would be implemented soon.

The visit would offer an important opportunity to observe their implementation. The Ministers went on to say that they considered the steps already taken to be “a relevant and encouraging sign in the Israeli policy vis-à-vis Gaza”.

The Ministers stated that during this visit they intended to make stops in both Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories to hold consultations with the Israeli Government and the Palestinian Authority.