United Nations human rights chief Navi Pillay arrived in Israel on Sunday for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, UN officials said. Her office said the UN high commissioner for human rights would visit Israel, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank until Friday.
On Monday, Pillay was to meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, prime minister Salam Fayyad and other officials in the West Bank city of Ramallah, her spokesman Rupert Colville told AFP.
In Israel, she is to meet President Shimon Peres, cabinet ministers and MPs and the chief justice of the supreme court. Her Geneva office earlier said the visit was requested by both the Israeli and Palestinian governments.
Israel has traditionally been sharply critical of UN human rights bodies and their criticism of violations in the Palestinian territories, and has refused to cooperate with some of the world body's rights experts.
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