Mideast quartet urges Israelis, Palestinians to resume direct talks
MOSCOW. August 20. KAZINFORMThe Middle East Quartet has called on the Israelis and the Palestinians to resume direct talks starting next month with the aim of reaching a wide-ranging agreement within the next twelve months to end the region's long-running conflict; Kazinform refers to Itar-Tass.
The Russian Foreign Ministry posted the statement on Friday.
The Quartet members - the UN, the European Union, Russia and the United States - urged the sides to launch direct negotiations in Washington DC on September 2 "to resolve all final status issues and fulfill the aspirations of both parties."
Direct bilateral talks have not been held since late 2008, but indirect, or proximity, talks resumed in May 2010, with the former U.S. Senator George Mitchell shuttling between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
"The Quartet expresses its determination to support the parties throughout the negotiations, which can be completed within one year, and the implementation of an agreement," the statement runs.
"The Quartet again calls on both sides to observe calm and restraint, and to refrain from provocative actions and inflammatory rhetoric."
The statement stressed that direct negotiations will only be successful if there is "sustained regional and international support" for both the talks and the "parallel process of Palestinian State-building and the pursuit of a just, lasting and comprehensive regional peace as envisaged in the Madrid terms of reference, Security Council resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative."