BICOM

The Quartet failed to announce any significant progress toward a revival of direct talks between Israelis and Palestinians following a meeting of senior Quartet representatives yesterday. The two hour and 15 minute meeting took place in Washington DC yesterday. No statement was issued following its conclusion. The Quartet is in search of a formula that will enable the resumption of talks between the sides, as an attempt, in part, to avoid a diplomatic crisis in September, when the Palestinians are planning to seek support in the United Nations General Assembly for a unilateral declaration of statehood. A senior US administration official, who briefed reporters after the meeting, said that ‘gaps’ remained, which were ‘impeding progress.’ The official said that more work remained to be done behind the scenes with the parties in order to close these unspecified gaps.

The meeting was hosted by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and was attended by European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and former British prime minister Tony Blair, the Quartet’s Middle East Envoy.