LONDON: The Middle East Quartet called Friday on Israel to stop building or extending settlements in the West Bank, while voicing deep concern over the Gaza Strip due to an Israeli blockade.In a joint statement issued after talks between the four key powers in London, they also urged Arab states to make good on pledges to help the Palestinians. The Quartet ... called on Israel to freeze all settlement activity including natural growth, and to dismantle outposts erected since March 2001, they said, in a statement quoted by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The Quartet called for continued emergency and humanitarian assistance and the provision of essential services to Gaza without obstruction, Ban added.Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, now the Quartet s envoy, said the situation in Gaza was terrible. But he said that before the blockade could be lifted, it was essential that rocket attacks from the Hamas-controlled territory into Israel ceased.Before the London talks, aid agencies had urged the Quartet to use the London meeting to press Israel to end its nine-month blockade of Gaza.The agencies including Oxfam said the grouping must end its complacency by putting the highest diplomatic pressure on the Israeli government to lift the blockade on Gaza. Warning of an impending humanitarian crisis, they added that the Israeli stranglehold on the sliver of land has made life for ordinary people intolerable and made it near impossible for aid agencies to work there.The four powers - the United Nations, the United States, Russia and the European Union - also urged Arab donor states to follow through on commitments to the Palestinians made at a Paris conference in December. The Quartet encouraged the Arab states to fulfill both their political and financial roles in support of the Annapolis process, Ban said, citing the agreed statement.US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said before the talks that Arab states that have resources ought to be looking not for how little they can do but how much they can do. On Friday, she said: I think there have been pledges that have been fulfilled but clearly when you make a pledge you ought to fulfill it. That is the point that I will be making to all states. Rice was due to travel on from London to Jerusalem and the West Bank, to try to advance stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, ahead of a visit to the region by President George W. Bush later this month.Bush - who said this week he remained hopeful of a Middle East peace deal before he leaves office in January - will visit Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt from May 13 to 18.Blair also voiced optimism that an agreement on a Middle East peace deal was possible faster than people think. The reason why I remain, in the end, not merely determined but also believe that we can achieve a breakthrough is that there is a focus now both on improving the Palestinian security capability and on getting economic and social development going, he said.Hamas has insisted that, as part of any truce to end violence, Israel must lift the blockade it imposed after the Islamists seized power in June.Israel on Thursday rejected a proposed truce.The Quartet talks were to be followed by separate meetings in London on Iran s disputed nuclear program.A six-power grouping comprising the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany were to discuss the next steps in seeking to persuade Tehran to rein in its nuclear work.Specifically the ministers are working on a joint proposal aimed at bringing Tehran back to the negotiating table and in line with UN resolutions, but Rice said she had low expectations for Friday s meeting.The West fears Iran wants to use its nuclear program to make atomic weapons but Iran insists the drive is peaceful and solely aimed at providing energy for a growing population.
