US hopes quartet can revive Mideast peace process
Source: Reuters
(Changes dateline to LONDON, adds quotes) By Sophie Walker LONDON, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Britain and the United States explored ways of persuading Israel and the Palestinians to revive peace talks on Thursday after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice invited Middle East negotiators to Washington. "I have issued an invitation to the members of the quartet for a meeting in Washington ... likely to take place on February 2," Rice told reporters in Berlin earlier. Several European countries want the quartet -- the United States, the United Nations, Russia and the European Union -- to play a bigger role. Rice and British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett met for discussions when they "took stock of Rice's recent Middle East visit and assessed progress there," a government source said. "Mrs Beckett and Dr Rice discussed how to stimulate a dialogue between the Israelis and Palestinians to work towards a two-state solution," the source said. RIA news agency said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would attend the Feb. 2 meeting. It quoted Russian negotiators as saying there would be a preparatory meeting in Paris on Jan. 24. Speaking in Berlin after a six-country tour of the Middle East, Rice said countries in the region were eager to see progress on the "road map" for peace between Israel and the Palestinians. "I did find the parties very desirous of accelerating progress on the road map, of extending the momentum that has been achieved in the meeting between (Israeli) Prime Minister (Ehud) Olmert and (Palestinian) President (Mahmoud) Abbas," Rice said before meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel. "The whole region is looking for a way to accelerate progress and to drive toward the establishment of a Palestinian state, and so this is a very important time." The two sides have yet to fulfil their obligations under the first stage of the quartet-drafted "road map", a halt to Israeli settlement-building and the dismantling of Palestinian militant groups. Western diplomats and Israeli officials said Washington was exploring several options including the creation of a Palestinian state with temporary borders, an idea proposed in the second stage of the road map but rejected by Abbas. Rice has said she plans to bring Abbas and Olmert together in a few weeks for informal talks on a Palestinian state. Abbas has told Rice he is ready for "end-game" negotiations over the final borders of a Palestinian state, an aide said. Merkel, who has vowed to do what she can to push forward the peace process during Germany's EU presidency for the first half of 2007, said she agreed there was some visible movement. "In the framework of the quartet, the European Union will support the momentum of the past weeks," she told reporters. UNIFIED APPROACH European and Arab allies have long pressed Washington to get more involved in the peace process. Critics say Washington is only responding now because it needs help in containing violence in Iraq and Iran's nuclear programme. Rice's visit took her to Egypt, Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, where she received apparent support from Arab allies for U.S. plans to deploy more troops to try to stabilise Iraq. Middle East peace efforts have made little progress since 2000 when a Palestinian uprising broke out months after the collapse of talks brokered by U.S. President Bill Clinton. A year ago, Islamist militant group Hamas defeated Abbas's Fatah in a Palestinian parliamentary election. Hamas has rejected calls to renounce violence and recognise Israel. (With reporting by Thomas Krumenacke and Louis Charbonneau in Berlin, David Clarke in London, Karin Strohecker in Vienna and Oleg Shchedrov in Moscow)
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