The Quartet of Middle East mediators are gathering in Egypt, to look for ways to boost the stalled peace process between Israelis and Palestinians.
The EU, the UN, Russia and the United States will be joined by Arab foreign ministers, to hear progress reports from both Israeli and Palestinian officials. “It was Russia's initiative to stop the quartet from stewing in its own juice and meet the sides more often as well as Arab League representatives,”said Russian Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, who have left for the meeting Saturday. The meeting in Sharm el Sheikh marks the first anniversary of the Annapolis peace conference. At the time, Israeli and Palestinian leaders pledged to reach a comprehensive peace deal within a year. The plan would see the creation of an independent Palestinian state but little progress has been achieved so far. Related links Further Iran sanctions ruled out Middle East peace impossible without Hamas – Russian FM Blair talks Middle East peace in Moscow