Quartet urges Israel, PA to reach peace deal by end of 2008

The Quartet of Middle East peacebrokers on Friday urged Israel and the Palestinians to make every effort to reach a peace deal before the end of the year.

Representatives of the group's members ? the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia ? made this plea during a meeting after a UN Security Council discussion on Israel's expansion of settlements in the West Bank, called by the Arab League.

In a similar vein to the most of the statements made earlier in the Council session, the quartet representatives expressed concern and dissatisfaction with the settlement building. They called on Israel to cease the construction, and to evacuate illegal settlement outposts as well.

The representatives also urged the Palestinian militant group Hamas to free abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit without preconditions. Shalit was kidnapped from his IDF by Gaza militants in a 2006 cross-border raid.

The statement issued after the meeting showed a concerted effort to strike a balanced position. While it emphasized progress in contacts between the involved parties was stressed, it also called on the sides to abstain from any action likely to undermine and damage the results of negotiations.

During the Security Council session, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas showed the members a map which he said represented the expansion of settlements in the territories, adding that a definite end must be put to settlement diplomacy.

Israel's ambassador to the UN, Gabriela Shalev, said that a stranger visiting the UN might understand from the debate that Hamas violence, missile attacks fired over Israel's border, the buildup of Hezbollah forces in Lebanon and Iran's nuclear ambitions posed no problem to the Mideast peace process.

"While settlements remain a delicate issue, they are not the principal one," she said.

"We in Israel are committed to a two-state solution," Shalev said. "We continue to negotiate with the Palestinian president. Israel is prepared, if the conditions arrive, to make painful concessions on the settlement issue," she said.

Saudi Arabia, the Arab League and the Palestinian president urged the UN Security Council to save the faltering Middle East peace process by demanding an end to Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory.

Rice reminded the council Friday that just one year ago, there was no peace process, and noted that Israel and the Palestinians continue their negotiations, along with many other partners.

Before the meeting, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters that the United States and some other nations had objected to Friday's open debate, but that Washington had bowed to the inevitable and let the meeting take place.

Saudi Prince Saud Al-Faisal said the settlement problem is the one issue that threatens to being down the entire peace process.

He said that addressing it was the only way to save the peace deal brokered in Annapolis, Maryland last year by the Bush administration with the goal of achieving a substantive peace accord by the end of 2008.

Arab League chief Amr Moussa noted Friday that there are only three months left in the year 2008 and there is no sign of a Palestinian state emerging.

Moussa added that Israeli-Palestinian talks were "futile because there isn't any progress and no Israeli suggestions in the face of the many initiatives presented by the Arab side."