Middle East Quartet condemns Israel's settlement plans - Update

Moscow - Top officials from the world's leading powers Friday criticized Israeli plans to build a new Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem and urged Israelis and Palestinians to resume stalled peace talks "as soon as possible."

Addressing reporters on behalf of the so-called Middle East Quartet after a meeting in Moscow, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon spoke out against the illegal annexation of East Jerusalem and called on Israel to freeze all of its controversial settlement activities.

"The Quartet urges the government of Israel to freeze all settlement activities ... and refrain from demolitions and evictions," a statement read by Ban said.

Officials of the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia also expressed concern at the worsening humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and called upon Israelis and Palestinians to return to peace talks as soon as possible.

"We are all committed to the launching of proximity talks between Israel and the Palestinians," US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said.

The officials hope that such "proximity talks" could eventually lead to direct face-to-face talks between Israelis and Palestinians.

The talks in Moscow took place against the backdrop of strained US-Israeli relations after the announcement of new Jewish settlement building in East Jerusalem, and overnight Israeli bombing raids against targets in Gaza.

Clinton on Friday said relations between the US and Israel remained "deep", "broad" and "strong", and stressed that the re- launch of Middle East peace talks was in Israel's best interest.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Washington on Thursday and said he was prepared to make fresh confidence-building measures, although no details have emerged. Clinton said she expected to meet the Israeli premier in the US capital next week.

The meeting' host, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, for his part warned either side that "unilateral action" seen as jeopardizing the talks would be considered as "unacceptable" by the Quartet.

The EU's foreign relations chief, Catherine Ashton, also attended the talks after making a rare visit to the Gaza Strip. Her visit coincided with a Palestinian militant rocket attack on Israel launched from the salient, which killed a Thai kibbutz worker Thursday.

Friday's one-day talks saw Tony Blair, the Quartet's envoy to the Middle East, as well as Ban, Clinton, Ashton and Lavrov draft a joint statement aimed at reaching a peace agreement within two years.

"Thank you for coming, let us now discuss proposals," Lavrov told the opening of the meeting, according to interfax newsagency.

Meanwhile, George Mitchell, US special envoy to the Middle East, is now expected to return to the region this weekend after postponing a visit last week because of the diplomatic feud over Israel's plans to build new housing units.

The announcement of Mitchell's visit came after Netanyahu telephoned Clinton on Thursday to discuss "specific actions that might be taken to improve the atmosphere for progress toward peace," US State Department spokesman PJ Crowley said in a statement.

Mitchell postponed the visit in the wake of the Israeli announcement on new housing, which came during a visit to Israel last week by US Vice President Joe Biden.

Overnight Israeli warplanes bombed six targets in Gaza, a statement said, including five tunnels and a metal workshop where Israel said rockets were being manufactured.

The projectile fired from Gaza killed a Thai worker in the southern Israeli community of Netiv Ha'asara in the first deadly rocket attack from the Gaza Strip in 14 months since last year's Gaza war.

The Quartet was formed in 2002.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/314850,middle-east-quartet-condemns-israels-settlement-plans--update.html.