Brussels, 30/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - On 27 September, the Quartet for the Middle East (the European Union, the USA, Russia and the United Nations) called on the Palestinians and Israelis to “take every step possible to promote conditions conducive to the success of the negotiating process and to refrain from actions that undermine trust or prejudge final status issues”. In its press release, the Quartet warned that it is important for the two parties to show commitment to improving the atmosphere for the negotiations, including through positive messages by the leaders. The EU, the UN, the USA and Russia commended the leadership of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and “their commitment to remaining engaged in sustained and continuous negotiations to address all the core issues”.
At the end of its meeting, the Quartet reaffirmed “its determination to lend effective support to the efforts of the parties and their shared commitment to reach a permanent status agreement within the agreed goal of nine months”. US Secretary of State John Kerry gave an update on the progress in the negotiations since the resumption of talks on 29 July 2013, and the Israeli chief negotiator, Tzipi Livni and Palestinian chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, gave a joint briefing on the negotiations.
The Quartet also called on the parties to respect the ceasefire of 21 November 2012.
Expressing support for its Economic Initiative to bring transformative economic growth to the Palestinian economy, the Quartet also expressed it support for the mission of Palestinian institution building and hailed the commitment made by the international community on 25 September to provide further support to the Palestinian economy.
In the view of the USA, Russia, the UN and the EU, it is important to tackle the humanitarian situation, including on the Gaza Strip. They assessed the humanitarian needs of Gaza's residents and reiterated the importance of increased access to Gaza through legal crossings, welcoming recent measures taken by Israel on this. (CG/transl.fl)