Palestinians want Quartet involved in peace discussions: official

The Palestinian leadership is pushing to get the international Quartet involved in the current discussions to ensure guarantees for face-to-face negotiations with Israel, a senior Palestinian official said Wednesday.

"The United States is studying our proposal that the Quartet convenes to discuss the guarantees we demanded before going to direct talks with Israel," Yasser Abed Rabbo, a member of the Executive Committee of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) told Radio of Palestine Radio.

He said the Quartet would play the role of "a trusted peace reference" and an arbitrator when the direct talks kick off.

The Quartet, which comprises of the United States, the United Nations, European Union and Russia, mediates peace and works on finding a final solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

In March, the international committee called on Israel to freeze settlement activity in Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem which the Palestinians want as a capital for their future state.

The Palestinians and the Israelis have been under pressure to resume direct peace talks, but the Palestinians insisted that Israel has to halt settlement construction and accept references for the peace process before talks start.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and the U.S. Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell met Tuesday in Ramallah, but both failed to agree on going to direct talks.

Source: Xinhua