New York - The diplomatic group on the Middle East peace process, the quartet, plans to meet in Italy later in June ahead of the G-8 summit to seize the momentum created by the Obama administration's policies, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday. US President Barack Obama's speech delivered in Cairo last week contributed to the momentum for settling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Ban said. He said the speech was well received and "widely accepted."
He said the recent successful and democratically-held elections in Lebanon also provided new traction to try to work out for peace in the Middle East.
"There is encouraging momentum on which to build," Ban said in a news conference. He did not give the exact date and venue of the quartet meeting because the meeting was still tentatively being scheduled.
The quartet is comprised of the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and Russia. The quartet's road map for Middle East peace has called for the establishment of a Palestinian state living in peace next to Israel. But the new government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not endorsed that part of the road map.
"The rights of both peoples, Palestinians and Israelis, to self-determination, statehood and security are the basis of any policy going forward," Ban said.
"On the issue of (Israeli) settlements, the UN position is well known," he said. "It is critical that Israel freeze settlement expansion and dismantle outposts as the quartet, and more recently US President Obama, have asked."
