Netanyahu denies EU claim to cooperate on Quartet report

Israel has not been consulted over the EU-led new peace push, Binyamin Netanyahu said on Saturday after an announcement by EU foreign policy chief that all parties were on board.

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab

14 February, 2016

The Israeli leader denies being consulted over Quartet report [Getty]

Israeli prime minister denied on Saturday that he was consulted by EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini over plans for a report towards a two-state peace agreement between Israel and Palestine.

The international diplomatic "Quartet" on the Middle East announced it will prepare a report on the current situation between Israel and the Palestinians with hopes for resuming peace talks.

The report is set to include "recommendations that can help inform international discussions on the best way to advance the two-state solution," following a meeting between the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia in Munich on Friday.

An announcement soon followed on the official blog of the EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.

"We have decided to immediately work together on a report, which will include recommendations for re-launching the two-State perspective," Mogherini said.

The new initiative would be done "in strong coordination with the parties. This is why yesterday I called Binyamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas, who assured to me their willingness to engage in this new process," she added.

But Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu denied he had agreed to the initiative on Israeli Channel 10.

Israeli officials also maintained "Netanyahu and Mogherini never spoke about such a report."

The Quartet had lamented the fraught state of relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority as "unsustainable" which it said is "dangerously imperilling" the goal of an independent Palestine.

It cited on-going Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians, the demolition of Palestinian buildings and continued Israeli settlement activity as major obstacles.

It also called for particular attention to be paid to dire humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip.

Agencies contributed to this report.