European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has scrapped a trip to South Africa next week in order to travel instead to the Middle East, officials said Thursday.
The decision comes amid increasing tensions over the Palestinians' plans to seek United Nations membership later this month, DPA reported.
Israel and the United States are strongly opposed to the move, and EU governments risk splitting on the issue.
Ashton is due to meet various ministers of Arab League countries and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Cairo next week, one EU source told the German Press Agency dpa.
"She will also travel to Israel to meet with the authorities there," the source added.
A South African university where Ashton was due to hold a lecture confirmed that "she has had to cancel her planned visit to South Africa due to recent developments in the Middle East."
Ashton was due to attend an EU-South Africa summit, where the bloc will be represented by EU President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.