European Union foreign policy head Mr Javier Solana met Lebanese officials today to drum up support for an international Middle East peace conference.
On the second leg of a regional tour aimed at helping restart Israeli-Palestinian talks to end 20 months of violence, Mr Solana said faith must be restored in political solutions.
"I'm here in order to see if we can introduce a political impulse into the crisis in the Middle East," he said after meeting Lebanon's foreign minister. "There has been too much suffering already."
The trip, which began in Egypt and is to include Syria and Jordan as well as talks with Palestinian and Israeli leaders, is part of a joint diplomatic effort with the United States, the United Nations and Russia.
EU officials hoped the effort could bring a regional conference sometime in June, but US officials have said it could be delayed to later in the year.
Mr Solana suggested the meeting could draw inspiration from the Arab states' endorsement of a Saudi peace plan at a Beirut summit in March.
"That was a most important statement that without doubt is going to contribute to the normalisation of the situation in the region," he said.
The plan offered Israel normal ties with Arab states in exchange for withdrawal from occupied Arab land and the return of Palestinian refugees.
Mr Solana is also to meet Lebanon's prime minister and president before heading to Israel and the West Bank later in the day.