The 27 European Union leaders, who are meeting on Friday in Brussels for their semestrial summit, are expected to talk about Palestinian plans to ask for recognition of a state at the United Nations in September.
But EU members states are said to be split on the issue, with a majority of them, including Germany and Italy, opposing unilateral moves and rather favoring direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians as the best way to reach an agreement.
The EU is trying to convince the Palestinians to hold off on the September plans by pushing for a resumption of talks with Israel.
'Only the resumption of direct negotiations could provide a realistic chance of improving the situation on the ground, thus leading to a lasting and comprehensive solution,' read the draft EU summit conclusions.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who returned earlier this week from a trip in Israel, said in an interview with Haaretz newspaper she was not certain the UN will vote on backing a Palestinian state in September
Ashton said the substance of the Palestinian resolution which will be put to a vote had not yet been pinned down.
"It will depend very much on what the resolution says as to how the international community in general, and the EU in particular, votes," she said.
"It is quite possible that that there could be a vote at the UN where the European Union has no difficulty in voting for that," she said, without explaining further.