RAMALLAH, April 12 (JMCC)- A meeting of the Quartet planned for Friday has been postponed at the request of the United States,
reports the Associated Press.
The working group on the Middle East, composed of the US, United Nations, European Union and Russia, had been expected to draft a statement condemning Israel's settlement construction proposed by Britain, France and Germany.
The three European countries wanted U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the European Union to propose a settlement text at a meeting of the Quartet of Mideast mediators — the U.S., U.N., EU and Russia — tentatively scheduled to take place Friday in Berlin on the sidelines of a NATO ministerial meeting, the diplomats said.
But a U.S. official said the Obama administration didn’t think a Quartet meeting would produce anything useful in terms of getting the talks restarted. “It wasn’t the right time,” the official said.
A European diplomat expressed regret that the meeting was postponed, saying it was time for a strong signal from the Quartet to try to get talks moving since U.S. efforts have failed.
Israeli-Palestinian peace talks stalled soon after last year's US push for final status talks over the issue of Israeli settlement construction in the areas it occupied in 1967.