In New Peace Push, Quartet Backs Obama’s 1967 Formula
The foreign ministers of the Middle East Quartet will be meeting today in Washington and are expected to release a statement endorsing U.S. President Barack Obama’s May 19th speech on the Middle East, which called for negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians on the borders of a future state based on pre-1967 lines with agreed-upon land swaps.
According to diplomatic sources, the Quartet, which consists of the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia, will not invite the parties to a summit meeting but will instead send a delegation to the region to determine if the will exists and the time is ripe for renewed negotiations.
Yesterday the group of eight senior Israeli cabinet members convened to discuss the anticipated announcement by the Quartet following a similar meeting on Friday. A diplomatic source in Jerusalem said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet colleagues have concerns that the Quartet announcement could provide a surprise for Israel similar to Obama’s May speech, the contents of which were revised less than 24 hours before it was delivered.
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