By David Brunnstrom

BRUSSELS, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Middle East peace brokers must press now for a final accord to settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or risk civil war in the Palestinian territories, the European Union said on Thursday.

Speaking before a meeting of the Quartet of Middle East mediators in Washington, EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner also said it was important to ensure Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had the military support he needed to be politically strong.

"I think it will certainly be a very crucial meeting," Ferrero-Waldner said. "What is essential for me is that there is a convincing political settlement and therefore we need to start discussing final-status issues at least.

"If they are always put off for a future stage, it is hard to keep the confidence and commitment of the Palestinian side," she said before Friday's meeting of the Middle East Quartet of the EU, the United States, Russia and the United Nations.

For the past few years, peace attempts such as the "road map" of 2003 have concentrated on small confidence-building measures, leaving aside bigger questions such as the status of Jersualem, the borders of a Palestinian state and refugees.

Asked about what some analysts see as a risk of a proxy war with Washington backing Abbas and Iran Hamas, she said: "In order not have these concerns come true, we have to work in the spirit of what I said for this quartet."

She stopped short of backing what Western and Palestinian officials say are U.S. plans for a possible extension of military training to Abbas beyond his presidential guard.

"It is important Abbas has a presidential guard that can really also give him the support he needs to be politically strong," Ferrero-Walder said, declining further comment.

"CONVINCING AND REAL"

She said it was vital for Israel to offer Palestinians a "convincing and real" political future: "This is the only way to then build the peace process that can really bring security."

Asked if she saw risks in military support to Abbas beyond the presidential guard, she said: "It is a matter of how we see the possibility of really building the institutions and building a future Palestinian state. We should concentrate on that."

The commissioner welcomed U.S. re-engagement in the Middle East peace process and in particular its proposal for trilateral talks involving Israel, the Palestinians ans the Americans.

"For us it is excellent to see the U.S. fully engaged," she said, adding that Brussels also welcomed efforts of Saudi Arabia, which has proposed an Arab peace plan similar to the Quartet's "road map".

The Quartet roadmap, drawn up in 2003, is a blueprint for simultaneous actions by Israel and the Palestinians leading to two states living side.

Ferrero-Waldner said the European Union still favoured the idea of a Palestinian national unity government involving a Hamas that recognised Israel's right to exist, renounced violence and respected peace deals.

Talks between Hamas and Abbas's Fatah movement on forming such a government broke down and violence between the two parties has increased sharply in the last month.

"We have to encourage Hamas to change," Ferrero-Waldner said.

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