DAMASCUS, October 18 (RIA Novosti) - Russia and Syria believe that more active efforts are needed to achieve peace in the Middle East, Russia's special envoy to the Middle East said on Sunday.
"We agreed to intensify efforts to stimulate movement towards the start of the peaceful negotiating process," Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Saltanov said after his meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem in Damascus.
Saltanov said that normalization of the situation in the Middle East would contribute to a better atmosphere in the world as a whole, stressing the important role played by the international community and the Middle East Quartet comprising Russia, the United States, the United Nations and the European Union in settling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The issue of Jewish outposts construction in the West Bank is the main obstacle to reviving peace talks with the Palestinians, and a sticking point in relations with the United States, Israel's main strategic ally.
Under the internationally agreed roadmap for Middle East peace, Israel is obliged to freeze all settlement construction activity, and remove unauthorized outposts built since 2001 from the Palestinian territories.
