Ramallah - Ma’an - EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton held a second meeting Monday with officials in Jerusalem, where dignitaries stressed the centrality of the holy city in Palestinian life and culture.

Ashton was in Palestine as part of her second Middle East trip.

A delegation of Palestinian officials asked that the EU appoint a special commissioner for Jerusalem affairs and provide protection for the Palestinian citizens in the occupied city until it is transferred into Palestinian hands in an eventual peace agreement. Jerusalem residents asked for international monitors in the city to document Israeli rights violations and under what they said was a continued project to "Judaize" the city.

Ashton reiterated the EU stance that East Jerusalem was part of the occupied Palestinian territories and condemned Israeli violations of the rights of Palestinians, particularly the recent home demolitions in the city, participants in the meeting told Ma’an.

Ashton sat with former Palestinian minister of economy Mazin Sunnuqrut, former Archbishop and Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Michel Sabbah, local official Abdul-Qadir Al-Husseini, head of the Al-Makassed Islamic Charitable Society Arafat Al-Hidmi, legal adviser Hiba Al-Husseini, and Rana Nashashibi, a researcher and community adviser on therapy and counseling for Palestinian women and children.