The European Union's top foreign policy official visited Gaza on Sunday and called for further pressure on Israel to allow freer movement of people and goods out of the Palestinian territory. The official, the European Union's high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, Catherine Ashton, was the most senior foreign emissary to visit to Gaza since Israel's recent decision to ease its blockade of the territory, which is governed by the anti-Israel militant group Hamas. At the same time, Israel and the United States pressed on with efforts to get the more moderate, West Bank-based Palestinian leadership to enter into direct peace talks with Israel. Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Obama administration's envoy, George J. Mitchell, and the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, held separate meetings in Cairo on Sunday with Egypt's president, Hosni Mubarak. Mitchell had already held talks with the Israeli and Palestinian leaders over the weekend. Though little was said about the meetings in Cairo, the partners to the peace process likely went to update Mubarak and to solicit his help. (Before leaving for Cairo, Netanyahu said that he intended to talk to the Egyptian president 'about ways to accelerate the entry into direct negotiations.') The Palestinians have been reluctant to move to direct negotiations. Abbas has said that he first wants to see progress on issues of borders and security in the American-brokered, indirect talks. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit was the only representative of the parties to deliver a public statement after the meetings. Amr Moussa, the secretary general of the Arab League, which gave its approval for the indirect talks, said in Cairo on Sunday, 'We cannot automatically move from one negotiation to another without written guarantees,' according to Agence France-Presse. Israel is considering confidence-building measures to propel the Palestinians toward direct talks. One sign of change came with easing of the Gaza blockade, a result of intense international pressure after Israel's deadly naval commando raid on a Turkish boat that was trying to breach the naval blockade in late May. Israel says it is now allowing all civilian goods into the territory through the land crossings, and is only preventing the entry of weapons or materials that could present a security risk The move was greeted abroad with cautious praise. In Gaza, Ashton visited the Middle East Pharmaceutical & Cosmetics Lab Co. and the Abu Eidah Company for Concrete and Construction, two beneficiaries of a E.U. program to help reconstruct Gaza's private sector. The European Union has pledged a total of 22 million euros for that end. Ashton did not meet with any Hamas officials since the European Union, like Israel and the United States, views Hamas as a terrorist group. 