Mideast peacemakers say status quo is not sustainable; urge Israel, Palestinians to take concrete action to calm situation
The chances for a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians are slipping away, the Quartet of Middle East peacemakers warned in a joint statement Friday, as it announced plans to try to kickstart long-moribund negotiations between the two sides.
The foursome said it will prepare a report on the current situation between Israel and the Palestinians, with an eye toward resuming peace talks. The new report will include “recommendations that can help inform international discussions on the best way to advance the two-state solution.”
The announcement came as representatives of the four — the European Union’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, US Secretary of State John Kerry and the United Nations’s Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson — met Friday on the sidelines of the annual Munich Security Conference on southern Germany.
Lavrov also met with Israel’s former foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, now an opposition Zionist Union MK, in Munich. He told Livni the current deadlock in Israeli-Palestinian relations was unsustainable, Israel’s Channel 2 TV reported, and urged Israel to accept the Saudi-introduced Arab Peace Initiative. He also asserted that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seems to be waiting for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to vacate the scene before taking any further steps toward resolving the conflict, the Channel 2 report said.
“The Quartet expressed its serious concern that current trends on the ground – including continued acts of violence against civilians, ongoing settlement activity, and the high rate of demolitions of Palestinian structures – are dangerously imperiling the viability of a two-state solution,” a statement said. “The Quartet reiterated that unilateral actions by either party cannot prejudge the outcome of a negotiated solution.”
The statement also called for both sides to show restraint and take action to end the wave of violence of recent months.
“[T]he status quo is not sustainable and that significant steps… are urgently needed to stabilize the situation and to reverse negative trends on the ground,” the statement said, adding that, “the continued absence of such steps was leading to further deterioration, to the detriment of both Israelis and Palestinians.”
It “underscored that both sides must swiftly demonstrate through policies and actions, a genuine commitment to a two-state solution in order to rebuild trust and avoid a cycle of escalation.”
As reported by The Times of Israel