Bahrain's Foreign Minister Khalid Bin Ahmed B
Bahrain's Foreign Minister Khalid Bin Ahmed BReuters

The Middle East Quartet is an "insufficient" format for long-term resolution of the Arab-Israel conflict, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday, calling on the body to work together with the Arab League in order to reach a resolution to the conflict.

The Quartet, which aims at achieving peace in the Middle East, is comprised of the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States. It has had little success in its efforts to renew direct negotiations between the parties.

"We have said at the Quartet's meetings that this format is insufficient for effectively looking into today's problems and working out viable proposals and agreements," Lavrov told reporters, according to AFP. 

"The Quartet needs... to work together with the Arab League representatives and work out solutions together... to restart Israeli-Palestinian talks," he said.

Lavrov’s comments came after the sides agreed upon a volatile cease-fire to end the recent wave of violence that has swept through the region. Israel had launched Operation Pillar of Defense in an effort to root out terrorism in Gaza and end the unremitting rocket attacks that have been raining down on the Jewish state since 2000, and even more since Israel left the area unilaterally in 2005.