The Quartet of Middle East mediators - the United Nations, United States, European Union and Russia - should operate on regular basis to foster conditions for Palestinian-Israeli contacts and subsequent full-fledged dialogue, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday.
The Arab Spring has drawn the international community’s attention, but the Palestinian-Israeli problem should not be neglected, Lavrov said at a UN Security Council meeting.
“We believe that the conflict potential of Middle East and Northern Africa will remain high until an all-encompassing Mideast settlement is reached,” he said, adding that this challenge is the historic responsibility of UN and the international community.
“Russia is open to close cooperation with all responsible members of the international community to reach it,” the minister said.
The Quartet on the Middle East was established in 2002 and is devoted to negotiating peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Tensions have been escalating in the conflict zone since Friday, and have seen the two sides trading rocket attacks and airstrikes.
