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Russia's Lavrov says Mideast talks need to be broadened

RIA Novosti

21/12/200914:19

CAIRO, December 21 (RIA Novosti) - More countries need to contribute to international talks on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict for progress to be reached, Russia's foreign minister said on Monday.

"At this stage, it is imperative that everyone who can influence the situation hold collective discussions on where we are now," Sergei Lavrov told reporters.

He said the negotiating process, in which Russia is involved as a member of the Quartet of mediators, has reached a dead-end, and that "Palestinian unity is now one of the key issues that urgently needs to be resolved".

Countries will also have to take a more coordinated approach to issues such as Iran's controversial nuclear program, and the situations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Sudan, he said.

Currently the main obstacle to the Palestinian-Israeli peace process is the issue of Jewish outpost expansion in the West Bank. The settlements are also sticking point in Israel's relations with the United States, its main strategic ally.

Under the internationally agreed roadmap for Middle East peace, Israel is obliged to freeze all settlement construction activity, and remove unauthorized outposts built since 2001 from the Palestinian territories.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced in late November that construction would be limited in the occupied West Bank, but not in East Jerusalem. He also said construction would resume in the future.

The Palestinian National Authority has refused to return to the negotiating table until outpost construction is completely halted.

Last week, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said a peace agreement with Israel could be reached within six months if the country meets the Palestinians' request.

The Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. Some half a million Jewish settlers live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, both of which have been under Israeli occupation since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.