DEPUTY foreign ministers from three EU countries including Ireland will visit Libya and Iran next week to seek a firm condemnation of terrorism from Tripoli and Tehran.
The trip was announced at a meeting in Palermo, Sicily, on March 9th after Islamic militant suicide bombings in Israel that threw the Middle East peace process into doubt.
An Italian government spokesman in Turin said the deputy foreign ministers from Italy, which holds the bloc's presidency, Spain and Ireland (the EU "troika") would go to Tripoli and Tehran between April 2nd and 4th.
The Palermo meeting called on Iran to condemn terrorism "once and for all" and warned Tehran that its dialogue with European countries could suffer if it did not renounce violence.
Meanwhile, at an anti terrorism conference in Washington, the US proposed a plan to pump money and jobs into the West Bank and Gaza for Palestinians suffering from the Israeli economic blockade.
Mr Warren Christopher, the US Secretary of State, told envoys from 27 states that "the merchants of terror" must be defeated, but "we must find ways to support the Palestinian people as they too suffer the consequences of the Hamas bombings".
A meeting of donor countries is to be called in the next few days.