BICOM

Quartet officials are set to begin a series of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian representatives today, in an effort to re-start direct negotiations between the sides. Among the Quartet officials expected to take part in the talks are Middle East Envoy Tony Blair, US Envoy David Hale, the EU’s Helga Schmid, Robert Serry for the UN, and an as yet un-named Russian representative. The group is scheduled to meet with veteran Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat today. A meeting that was expected to take place today between the group and Yitzhak Molcho, a senior advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, may now be postponed because Molcho is likely to be in Egypt helping to implement the deal to free Ilan Grapel, the US-Israeli citizen currently held in Egypt.

The latest effort at restarting negotiations comes three days after the sides missed a deadline for the first direct meeting the Quartet called for in its framework for returning to talks, which it released at the UN on 23 September. That framework calls for an agreement between the two sides by the end of 2012. On the eve of talks there is little optimism that the efforts by the Quartet will lead to a speedy resumption of direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. However, yesterday in an interview with the LA Times, Blair indicated that the Quartet would discuss the issue of borders and security with both sides ‘to see how big the divisions’ are.

In the LA Times interview Blair also said he had no plans to step down from his post as Quartet Representative, despite recent accusations by some Palestinians that he favours Israel. He said he had critics on both sides that do not like the fact that the quartet is trying to ‘corral people back into negotiations.’ When asked if he was taking a more active role in the peace process because the US had stepped back, Blair said the US was ‘still very much there’ but wanted the international community to ‘step up’ with them.