Israel and the Palestinian Authority should hold direct dialogue and negotiations to push the peace process forward, the sponsors of the road map plan said Tuesday. In a statement released at a Meeting on Supporting the Palestinian Authority, the group also insisted a new Palestinian state must be "truly viable" and not consist of scattered territories.
The group, which includes the United Nations, Russia, the European Union and the United States, condemned last Friday's bombing attack in Tel Aviv and called for "immediate action by the Palestinian Authority to apprehend and bring to justice the perpetrators."
"Noting the fragility of the current revived momentum in discussions, the Quartet encourages the two parties to continue on the path of direct dialogue and negotiation," it said.
Earlier, British Prime Minister Tony Blair opened the global conference and said that reinvigorating the peace process to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was the world's most pressing political challenge.
"There is probably no more pressing political challenge than to move this process forward," said Blair.
The British premier said the conflict was used by "fundamentalists to rally support for extremism" and that it was vital to bring peace to the region for the security of the world.
"The significance of this issue and the Middle East peace process, or frankly lack of it over the past few years, the significance of what we are discussing is not confined to Israel, to Palestine or even to the Middle East. It is something that concerns all the countries represented here today."
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas told the conference the Palestinian Authority had taken a final decision to unify its security services.
"The important message is our readiness to work in terms of security," Abbas said. "We ... have taken a final decision in unifying the security apparatus." "The most important of these messages is our sincere preparedness to exert 100 percent effort in the domain of security. To that end, we deployed our troops on the ground and we took a final decision concerning the consolidation of the security agencies according to the basic law. We continue to implement this decision, which also includes multiple lines of authority and reinforcing plurality."
For his part, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan stressed the importance of establishing security on the ground. "Put simply, lack of security undermines everything," Annan said.
However, he said removal of Israeli checkpoints and roadblocks was needed to let the Palestinian economy function. "The international community must work" with Israel to bring this about, he said. "The prevailing mood is one of optimism," Annan said. "The parties have proclaimed ... their determination to work together".
Israel was not represented.
The conference was designed to help bolster the Palestinian Authority in time for Israel's proposed withdrawal of all troops and settlers out of the Gaza Strip and a part of the northern West Bank, a plan expected to be carried out within months.
© 2005 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
