Middle East Quartet efforts need Arab League participation - Lavrov

MOSCOW, July 2. /TASS/. The responsibility of the international community for the resumption of dialogue between Palestinians and Israelis is growing, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday at a meeting with Foreign Minister of the Palestinian National Authority Riyad al-Maliki. "We will discuss today the Middle East peace process situation, steps to lead the process out of the deep impasse," Lavrov said. "We are committed to a two-state solution, which would protect the interests of Palestine and all the countries in the region, including Israel." "Of course, the main role belongs to the Israelis and Palestinians, but I am convinced that the international community’s responsibility for the resumption of the process is growing," the minister said. "We have a UN Security Council resolution, the Madrid principles and the important mechanism - Quartet of the Middle East mediators," the Russian foreign minister said. "But we are convinced that the Quartet’s efforts alone are not enough." Moscow, he said, has long been urging all countries of the League of Arab States (LAS) to join the Quartet’s efforts. "Because the solution may be based on the Arab peace initiative, the author of which is the Arab League," Lavrov said. "For the settlement plan to succeed, it is necessary not to relax the efforts for the restoration of inter-Palestinian unity. A lot has been done, and now it is necessary to put the agreement into practice." According to him, this issue is closely related to the task of overcoming the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. On Wednesday, al-Maliki said at the United Nations International Meeting in Support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace that new players should be included in the group of international mediators in the Middle Eastern settlement, and activities of the current Quartet (Russia, US, EU and UN) should be reconsidered. Answering a question on what mechanism are needed for the Quartet to start effectively working, al-Maliki said: "We have been long waiting for the Quartet to start working effectively, but, unfortunately, until now this format has not brought any concrete results." Read more