The Quartet of international Mideast mediators - the United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia - held joint talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials on Sunday in Egypt. The parties supported Russia's proposal to hold a Mideast peace conference in Moscow next spring.
The talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, launched by U.S. President George W. Bush last November at a conference in Annapolis, Maryland, have been stalled by the outbreak of violence in the Middle East and disputes over the construction of Jewish settlements and the future status of Jerusalem.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who attended the meeting of the Quartet of international mediators with Israeli and Palestinian officials in Egypt, said he was convinced that the parties would make progress at a Moscow Mideast peace conference next year.
