Rocket attack mars Middle East peace drive

The latest round of Middle East diplomacy was marred yesterday as a rocket fired from Gaza killed a civilian in Israel while the EU foreign policy chief was visiting the Palestinian enclave.

A Thai agricultural worker was killed when the rocket slammed into a farm near the Gaza border. A second rocket slammed into open ground after dark, causing no casualties, the army said.

Israel branded the deadly attack a "serious escalation" and vowed to respond.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the killing. "All such acts of terror and violence against civilians are totally unacceptable and contrary to international law," his office said. The attack, claimed by the Al-Qaeda-inspired Ansar al-Sunna Brigade, came just as EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton was visiting the impoverished coastal strip.

The Israeli-blockaded territory is still struggling with the aftermath of the 22-day offensive which Israel launched in December 2008 in a bid to halt rocket fire.

"I'm extremely shocked by the rocket attack... and the tragic loss of life," Ms Ashton told journalists. "We need to move forward to get the peace process to move toward a successful resolution."

Lady Ashton later flew to Moscow for a meeting of the Middle East diplomatic Quartet also attended by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the UN chief. Mr Ban himself plans to visit the Middle East, including Gaza, over the weekend amid mounting tension in the region as well as between Israel and its chief ally, the United States.

US Middle East envoy George Mitchell, who brokered a now troubled deal for indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinians on a previous visit, is due back in the region on Sunday, a senior Palestinian official said.

The trip, initially scheduled for last Tuesday, was postponed amid a major row between Washington and the Jewish state over Israel's announcement of 1,600 new homes for settlers in annexed mainly Arab east Jerusalem.

Washington was all the more angered as the announcement was made while Vice President Joe Biden was in Jerusalem promoting the talks, but President Barack Obama has insisted there is no crisis.

"We and the Israeli people have a special bond that's not going to go away," he said in a television interview late on Wednesday. He called on both Israelis and Palestinians to "take steps to make sure that we can rebuild trust".

Hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security Cabinet, meanwhile, met to discuss its answer to the US administration's criticism amid concern that delaying the keenly awaited response would further exacerbate the rift.

But the prospects for a swift resumption of peace negotiations, halted when Israel launched its devastating Gaza offensive at the end of 2008, appeared dim.