The diplomatic Quartet of nations -- comprised of the U.S., Russia, the United Nations and European Union -- agreed on Sunday to avoid interfering in ongoing talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority after U.S. President George W. Bush leaves office on January 20.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was present as Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Palestinian Authority Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas briefed the Quartet at its meeting Sunday, held in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh. Representing the various bodies of the Quartet were U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the Quartet's Middle East envoy, Tony Blair.
In a short statement issued to the media following the briefings by Livni and Abbas, the Quartet told reporters that it had agreed to continue supporting the negotiations, dubbed by Rice as the 'Annapolis process', and said that Israel and the PA would resume direct negotiations free of international intervention.
In addition, the Quartet reiterated that its international support is conditional on the PA leadership dismantling terrorist infrastructures and on adhering to the three conditions set by the Quartet when the Hamas terrorist organization was voted into power in the PA government in January 2006. The three conditions included formal recognition of the State of Israel, renouncing violence, and upholding all agreements negotiated by previous PA governments, all of which Hamas has been unwilling to do. The Quartet also reaffirmed that it is committed to fighting terrorism, incitement and intolerance.
Livni was scheduled to meet Sunday afternoon with Abbas, Ban and Lavrov, as well as with the foreign ministers from Egypt and Jordan.
Rice had told reporters during a joint news conference Friday with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni that she expected both Livni and Abbas to "affirm that the Annapolis process and the framework that it establishes is indeed the basis on which they believe they can come to a resolution of their conflict regardless of timetable, regardless of anyone's timetable."
The Quartet was primed, she said, to hear about "their views on the progress that has been made on the key pillars [of the Bush plan] and their desire for international support in continuing their efforts."
Tossing in the Towel on Final Status Deal by 2008
Rice finally acknowledged openly for the first time that a final status agreement will not be forthcoming by the time President George W. Bush leaves office on January 20, 2009.
She hastened to add however, that much progress had been made in the eight years since the Bush administration entered the White House, pointing out the first term had begun with "a raging intifada." But "a lot has happened to change the environment," she said, including the launch of the Annapolis process almost a year ago, which she called "an extraordinary breakthrough in the history of this conflict."
The U.S. Secretary of State also reviewed what she called the "pillars" of the Bush plan for the two-state solution:
- Bilateral negotiations
- Improvements in the situation on the ground
- Creation of reliable Palestinian institutions that can deliver for the [PA Arab constituents] and can be a stabilizing factor in this region when a Palestinian State is born
- Marshaling international and regional support for the process.
But she also warned that any agreement would not to be feasible unless the Roadmap obligations were met, "and that's when we talked about it being subject to Roadmap obligations."
The Roadmap calls for the cessation of all terrorist activity against Israeli citizens and the State of Israel as a primary condition for the establishment of tentative borders for a new PA Arab state within Israel's current borders.