Brussels, 09/03/2011 (Agence Europe) - Ahead of the next Quartet meeting, France, the United Kingdom and Germany are working on an initiative to kick start the stalled peace process and to try to respond to some of the expectations of the Palestinian side. The Quartet will have to give its formal opinion on the final status.
A French Foreign Ministry spokesman confirmed on Wednesday 9 March that France is “keen that the Quartet be fully involved in efforts to relaunch the peace process”. These efforts form part of the follow up to the last Quartet meeting in Munich on 5 February. The Foreign Offices of the three above-mentioned European countries want the Quartet to adopt a declaration as soon as possible setting the parameters of the final status - in particular, with regard to borders and security - so that direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians can be resumed on that basis.
According to the French spokesman, “only exact definition of the political framework of the negotiations will be sufficient to bring about the resumption of the peace process”. He stated that the declaration being drafted “has already found strong agreement” among the three countries (Catherine Ashton was not specifically mentioned) “following our joint explanation of vote on the draft Palestinian resolution on settlements, in the Security Council on 18 February”. The three have “sought to inform the parties, the members of the Quartet and a number of Arab countries of the need for the Quartet to fully play its role to bring about the resumption of direct negotiations”. (F.B./transl.rt)