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Haaretz reports Quartet frustration after peace talks

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Representatives of the Middle East Quartet (US, Russia, EU and UN) attended talks in Tel Aviv and Ramallah last week in an effort to revive negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian leadership. According to a report in Haaretz, little hope emerged from the meetings and the gaps between the two sides remain substantial.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s aid Yitzhak Molcho met with Quartet representatives last week before Friday’s terrorist attack in the settlement of Itamar that left a family of five dead. According to Israeli officials and European diplomats who spoke with the paper, Molcho presented flexible Israeli positions on the negotiations and said that Israel would soon take further steps to show its commitment to reaching a final status peace deal. The report further indicates that the Palestinian Chief Negotiator Saeb Erekat said in the meeting that the Palestinians would not give up their demand for a settlement construction freeze as a precondition to resume negotiations.

Since the terror attack last Friday, Netanyahu has mostly refrained from publicly addressing the need to advance the peace process or referring to the policy speech he is expected to deliver in the upcoming weeks. Instead, Netanyahu has focused his comments on Palestinian incitement and security concerns as the important issues to address in future peace talks.

The lack of progress in renewing peace talks has seen a growing call and lobby by the Palestinians to gain support for a unilateral establishment of a Palestinian state. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said on Tuesday that while France is not ready to recognise a Palestinian state, the EU may see it as a possibility in the future. The Quartet decided to defer a meeting of the foreign ministers to mid-April and is considering releasing a statement on its position to possible solutions over the core issues of negotiations. However, there are significant disagreements between the US and EU countries whether the Quartet ought to publish the terms of reference for a final status solution, or allow it to be determined by the sides.