Middle East ‘Quartet’ summit sets timeline for the creation of a Palestinian state

It is worth noting that all top representatives of the UN, Russia, EU and the United States — the countries and organizations that comprise the ‘Quartet,’ which took part in the March 19 meeting in the Russian Foreign Ministry — were unanimous on the key issue on the agenda. Specifically, present at the meeting were U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Quartet Representative Tony Blair, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton, George Mitchell, U.S. special envoy for Middle East Peace and Catherine Ashton, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. 

The Quartet, whilst denouncing Tel-Aviv’s recently announced plans to continue its controversial housing expansion policy in contested East Jerusalem, however, praised the warring parties’ agreement to launch indirect talks as an important step toward the resumption, without preconditions, of direct bilateral negotiations that will resolve all the thorny issues on the final definition of the status of the Palestinian state.  

Going by the positive and emphatic tune of the joint statement, the Quartet seems confident in the eventual success of its new plans. “We believe these negotiations should lead to a settlement, negotiated between the parties within 24 months, that will end the occupation of Palestine by Israel, which began in 1967 and result in the creation of an independent democratic Palestinian state that is living side by side in peace and security with Israel and its other neighbors,” the negotiators said. “Also, we reiterate that the establishment of peace between Arab and Israel and the emergence of a Palestinian state on the West Bank and Gaza is in fundamental interests of both parties, all states in the region and the international community as a whole.”