US seeks quartet help to revive Arab-Israeli talks
Source: Reuters
By Sue Pleming WASHINGTON, Feb 2 (Reuters) - The United States will seek on Friday to get the quartet of Middle East peace brokers to find new ways to revive the stagnant Israeli-Palestinian peace process while continuing to isolate the Hamas-led government. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is expected to outline U.S. plans to other quartet members for a proposed meeting later this month among herself, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The so-called quartet, which is meeting in Washington at Rice's request, groups the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union and meets several times a year to discuss how to proceed on Israeli-Palestinian issues. "We would invite the support of the quartet members as well as other members of the international system in that initiative," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack. The quartet backs the U.S.-proposed "road map," which was drawn up in 2003 and provided benchmarks for the goal of a final settlement by 2005 of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a date that has long since passed. Middle East analyst Jon Alterman questioned whether the road map was still relevant, especially as both the Israeli and Palestinian governments were weak and deadlines had gone by. "It needs to be rethought. The situation on the ground has changed dramatically, some of the steps are appropriate but a lot are not," said Alterman, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank. The militant group Hamas, which refuses to recognize Israel or renounce violence, swept to power in Palestinian elections in January 2006. Efforts by the U.S.-backed Abbas to form a unity government with Hamas have so far failed. The U.S. negotiator in the Middle East, David Welch, said it had been more than six years since the Israelis and Palestinians had a "constructive conversation" and the United States wanted to facilitate that with the help of the quartet and others. "We think it is important to give credibility and strength to that effort," said Welch, the assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs. AID BLOCKADE While quartet members are united in pushing for a revived peace process, there is disagreement over whether a Western aid blockade to the Hamas-led government should continue. Russia called this week for the aid freeze to be lifted and the United Nations and European Union are also questioning it. U.N. officials said late on Thursday there was still not agreement among all the members on how to proceed and it was unclear whether the issue would be raised in a final communique expected to be released after the meeting. McCormack said Washington would like a reaffirmation of the quartet statement agreed on a year ago that aid would resume only if Hamas agreed to renounce violence, sign on to past agreements and recognize Israel. Arab nations have been pushing hard for the United States and the quartet to become more involved and get both sides to tackle "final status" issues that will be hardest to agree on -- the future of Jerusalem, borders and refugees. The new U.N. secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, will be attending his first quartet meeting and along with EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, he said he hoped Friday's meetings would delve into "key issues." Egypt's ambassador to the United States, Nabil Fahmy, said: "The quartet should highlight and reaffirm its commitment to pursuing final settlement. That would provide much more incentive and vigor to the peace process."
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