Brussels, 23/12/2002 (Agence Europe) - The Middle East Quartet called on Friday for an immediate ceasefire between Israelis and Palestinians, saying the "roadmap" setting out the stages in the process of creating a Palestinian state in 2005 had practically been finished but would probably not be made public before the end of January.
At the conclusion of their meeting in Washington, the United States, EU, United Nations and Russia, making up the Quartet, released a statement calling for a total and immediate cessation of hostilities: "All Palestinian individuals and groups must end all acts of terror against Israelis, in any location. (…) As calm is established, Israeli forces should withdraw from Palestinian areas and the pre-Intifada status quo on the ground should be restored." The European representatives noted that the roadmap has been mostly finalised, with the exception of provisions on the surveillance and control mechanism applying to the two parties to the conflict. US President George W. Bush said the document had not yet been completed but stressed the great importance he attached to its implementation. Release of the roadmap has been delayed by the perspective of the early elections of 28 January in Israel. Whereas the United States' three Quartet partners wish to move forward without taking account of this deadline, Washington, giving in to the arguments of the Israeli government, considers it wiser to postpone publication of the roadmap until after the elections (see EUROPE of 20 December, page 3). Per Stig Moeller, Danish Foreign Minister, whose country holds the rotating EU Council Presidency until the end of the year, played down the disagreement between the EU and the United States, saying that, in any case, the document would be finalised next month. "I am not discouraged." And he added: "On the contrary, we have finalised the text (…). We cannot publish it before having set up this control procedure. But it is very encouraging that the President of the United States has remained firm in his views." On the sidelines of the meeting of the Quartet, Per Stig Moeller also met US Vice-President Dick Cheney to discuss Iraq and Defence Minister Rumsfeld.