Brussels, 11/07/2011 (Agence Europe) - The Quartet (United States, EU, Russia and UN), meeting in Washington on Monday 11 July, is hoping to put peace talks back on the right track against a background of considerable changes in the region and building on the ideas advanced by President Barack Obama in May (he said the 1967 borders should form the basis for negotiations). This was the substance of comments made by EU High Representative Catherine Ashton before she left for the American capital. “I do not underestimate the challenge, but my objective for Monday's meeting of the Quartet is to try and adopt a statement that will help the Israelis and Palestinians make progress and allow for a return to the negotiating table as soon as possible”, she said.
More baldly, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé, whose country hopes to hold a donor and/or a peace conference in the autumn, believes that the meeting in Washington “provides one of the last opportunities to prepare the ground for the relaunch of negotiations and to avoid a diplomatic confrontation in September”. The Palestinians are resolute in their intention to call, at the next meeting of the UN General Assembly, for international recognition of Palestine as a sovereign state, alongside that of Israel (see EUROPE 10404).
“We hope that the meeting will adopt a strong statement, calling for a resumption of negotiations based on parameters that are detailed and balanced enough to be acceptable to both parties, similar to those underpinning our initiative” for a conference, Juppé stated. France is planning to hold a donor conference for the Palestinians “in the first fortnight of September”. This conference could become a peace conference with Israel, the French foreign minister said on Tuesday 5 July.
This idea does not seem entirely to reassure the Israelis, according to Haaretz. This moderate daily spoke of a special meeting in Tel Aviv this weekend from which it emerged that the government has “concerns” that the “Quartet announcement could provide a surprise for Israel”, similar to Obama's comments in May. (F.B./transl.rt)