MUNICH — European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said Saturday that the Quartet of Mideast peacemakers can't be distracted from their task by political upheavals in Egypt and its neighbors.
The quartet — the UN, the US the EU and Russia — met on the sidelines of the Munich security conference amid ongoing pro-democracy protests in North Africa and the Middle East.
RELATED:Clinton tells Mideast leaders to enact democratic reformsPM pledges to support Palestinian economic growth Ashton said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon and others called for urgent progress on efforts to press
Israel and the Palestinians to resume talks on a peace settlement.
"I believe that regional events shouldn't distract us from that
objective for the future. We want to see peace and stability in the
region. We believe the Middle East peace process is an essential part of
that," Ashton told reporters.
She said that envoys would hold separate talks with Israeli and
Palestinian negotiators before another meeting of the Quartet leaders
next month.
In a statement, the Quartet said it regretted Israel's decision to end a
10-month moratorium on construction in West Bank settlements and east
Jerusalem. That led peace talks to stall just weeks after they had
restarted in September.
"In view of developments in the Middle East, the Quartet expressed its
belief that further delay in the resumption of negotiations is
detrimental to the prospects for regional peace and security," the group
said in a statement.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said the Quartet meeting —
which also included Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, US special
envoy for Middle East Peace George Mitchell and the Quartet's envoy Tony
Blair — had delivered "clear messages."
"Those who want to support moderate forces in the Middle East, those who
want to support constructive forces in the Middle East, are well
advised to press for progress in the Middle East peace process,"
Westerwelle said.
Ashton defended the EU — and herself — against criticism that the
27-nation bloc had been slow and timid in its response to events in
Egypt. "I really don't accept that we have been slow. I think that we
have to be very measured, and very clear," she said.