Ambassador John Gatt-Rutter has spent a number of years in Jerusalem, Cairo and Brussels working on the European Union’s policies in the Middle East. He was appointed head of delegation and EU representative to the West Bank, Gaza Strip and UNRWA by EU High Representative/Vice President Catherine Ashton in 2011. He previously held the first permanent chair of the Mashraq/Maghreb Working Party in Brussels and worked on the Middle East peace process at the Policy Unit for then-High Representative Javier Solana.