Gaza, February 06: The foursome — comprising the European Union, Russia, the United Nations, and the United States — convened on Saturday on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference to address regional issues, including the Israeli-PA talks, which were derailed in September by Tel Aviv’s refusal to halt its expansion of settlements.
The Quartet called for separate meetings with Palestinian and Israeli negotiators in Brussels before the group’s next meeting in mid-March, Ha’aretz reported on its website.
“We expected the Quartet, in such exceptional circumstances in the region, to live up to the event by asking Israel to stop all settlement activity, including in al-Quds (Jerusalem) and to recognize the 1967 borders as borders of a Palestinian state with its capital in East al-Quds,” chief PA negotiator Saeb Erekat said.
“It seems that some members of the Quartet are still unaware that the threat to the region comes from the Israeli occupation, which poses a threat to the entire region and to world peace and must be ended,” he added.
A spokesman for acting PA Chief Mahmoud Abbas said in a statement that the Quartet “should take a strong stand from settlements so that we can return to negotiations.”
“[The] continuation of the crisis in the Middle East is linked to the ongoing Israeli occupation of the Palestinian and Arab land,” Nabil Abu Rudeineh emphasized.
Under US pressure, the PA joined the negotiating table with Israeli leaders in Washington in September, but the talks broke down after Israel defied international calls to renew a partial freeze on its West Bank settlement construction projects.
The Palestinian Authority insists that Israel must stop all settlement activities in the West Bank and illegally annexed East al-Quds before negotiations can resume and wants an international position supporting their demand.
Ramallah’s willingness to hold talks with Israel has drawn scathing criticism from the Palestinian public and major parties, who accuse the PA of bowing to US and Israeli pressure.
The critics also voiced concern that the negotiating team for the pro-Western Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority might end up giving more concessions to Israel.
——-Agencies