EU leaders seek Middle East Quartet meeting
Palestine-Israel-Germany, Politics, 1/6/2007

The European Union expressed yesterday its support to a proposal by German Chancellor Angela Merkel for a new meeting of the Middle East Quartet on the Palestinian issue.

"The Middle East peace process is very, very large on our radar screen and we welcome the German Presidency's attention to this issue and determination to make it a priority," European Commission spokesperson for external relations Emma Udwin told reporters in Brussels.

Germany currently holds the six-month rotating presidency of the 27-member EU.

"We welcome all efforts that the Quartet continues to play an effective role and remains engaged in the search for solutions," added Udwin.

Merkel made the proposal during a meeting with US President George W Bush in Washington on Thursday.

"Madame Chancellor had a good idea to convene the Quartet," said Bush in a joint press conference after the meeting.

Bush said the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would soon be going to the Middle East to try to revive the process.

The Quartet includes the EU, Russia, the UN and US. Germany also holds the year-long presidency of the G8 nations.

Meantime, Merkel will embark on a visit to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait from February 3 through 6, German government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said during a news briefing in Berlin.

Meantime, President of the France, Jacques Chirac, called for convention, through the Quartet, an international conference of a new type which would allow an effective dynamic of negotiation to be set in train.

On his speech on the occasion of New Year's Greetings, President Chirac said that the Middle East has become the epicenter of international tension.

"The Israeli-Palestinian conflict crystallizes the resentment felt on all sides. It is therefore here that the inevitability of failure must be forestalled. We know what the outline of a settlement would be: two States living in peace and security. The roadmap accepted by all parties has marked out the path to that outcome. On each side there are representatives and they are once again talking to each other. What is still lacking is trust," Chirac said.

He added that this conflict fosters a sense of incomprehension and injustice throughout the Muslim world, as though "the new international order was built on double standards."

White House spokesman said yesterday about a quartet meeting "I think it's likely to happen after Secretary Rice comes back. There are going to be some opportunities for the Quartet to get together sometime in the relatively near future. But nothing yet has been completely ironed out. But Secretary Rice will be -- it's certainly going to be after her upcoming trip."

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