Quartet push to revive Middle East peace plan

The quartet of four international powers behind the faltering Middle East peace plan has outlined a plan to revive peace talks.

A New York meeting on Tuesday of top officials from the EU, Russia, US and UN encouraged Israel to pull out of Gaza, which they said would provide a “rare moment of opportunity” to get the stalled ‘road map’ for peace back on track.

But in a three page statement issued at the end of the two and a half hour meeting, they warned against “unilateral actions” that sought to sideline negotiations between both sides.

“Any final settlement on issues such as borders and refugees must be mutually agreed to by Israelis and Palestinians,” it said.

“If we seize this opportunity and work with the parties, we’ll get back onto the road map,” said US Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Javier Solana, the EU’s foreign policy chief, stressed that the quartet wanted Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza “to be total.”

The statements will come as a boost to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon whose withdrawal plan for Gaza faced a crushing defeat at the hands of his own Likud party on Monday.

But Tuesday’s meeting also aimed to placate growing Arab anger at US President George W. Bush’s unabashed assurances to Sharon that he could retain settlements on the West Bank and restrict the return of Palestinian refugees.

The Palestinians and many in the Arab world saw this as a unilateral attempt to give up two key final status issues.

EU External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten told the BBC’s Newsnight on Tuesday that Bush’s backing for the Sharon plan sent “very bad signals” to the Middle East.

“I think it sent some very bad signals to the Middle East because people assumed that he was prejudging the final status issue,” he said.

Washington has protested that Bush’s statements did not prejudge a peace deal under the terms of the internationally-backed road map.

“I think that the statement we have made today on behalf of the quartet..is some assurance to the Arab world and to the whole world that we are committed to the basis upon which the peace process rests,” Powell told a press conference after the Quartet meeting.

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