Middle East Quartet Meets on Efforts to Revive Peace Talks
By VOA News
21 February 2007
Condoleezza Rice (r) with Germany＇s Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin, 21 Feb 2007
Top diplomats from the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States - the international quartet - are meeting in Berlin Wednesday on how to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
The session follows a visit to the region by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem on Monday.
Speaking to reporters before Wednesday＇s meeting, Rice said any Palestinian government must meet international demands such as recognizing Israel and renouncing violence.
Rice was speaking about the power-sharing deal between Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas. The unity deal does not require Hamas to recognize Israel or to renounce violence.
Sergei Lavrov (file photo)
Ahead of Wednesday＇s meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in a newspaper interview, said he hopes the Quartet will support the new Palestinian government and lift the embargo on aid to the Palestinian Authority.
The U.S. and Israel have ruled out talks with the Palestinian government unless it meets the international demands, which also include honoring past agreements with the Jewish state.
Mr. Abbas is on a European tour seeking support for the unity government. He meets Wednesday with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in London.
The economic embargo on the Palestinians was imposed after Hamas took power more than one year ago. The Islamic group has refused to recognize Israel or renounce violence.
Mr. Abbas, of Fatah, says he got the best deal from Hamas that he was able to get, at the Mecca conference where the unity deal was signed.
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