Last update - 00:00 10/01/2007
Merkel: Time for 'paralyzed' Mideast Quartet to resume lead
By Reuters
United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will see if conditions are right for a meeting of the "paralyzed" Middle East Quartet, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was quoted as saying on Wednesday.
Rice leaves for the Middle East and Europe on Friday to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts and to seek Arab help in stabilizing Iraq. The four-party Middle East peace mediator known as the Quartet groups the U.S., the European Union, the United Nations and Russia.
Merkel told Italy's La Stampa newspaper in an interview that U.S. President George W. Bush "agrees with us on the fact that the Quartet should take back its leading role."
"The quartet, as is known, is paralyzed in the face of recent developments, but it remains the most effective institutional possibility for coordinating international efforts in the region."
She added, "We have agreed that Condoleezza Rice, in a trip this weekend, should check if the conditions are there for a new meeting of the quartet, because we cannot intervene as mediators if the region's protagonists do not show a clear will to put an end to conflicts."
Germany assumed the six-month rotating presidency of the EU at the start of the year.