UNITED NATIONS, December 16 (RIA Novosti) - The Quarter of negotiators on the Middle East conflict have called the process "irreversible" and urged the Israelis and Palestinians to intensify their dialogue to produce a peace agreement.

Representatives of the Quartet - the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United

Nations - held a ministerial meeting at the UN headquarters in New York late on Monday and issued a statement on the situation in the Middle East.

"The Quartet expressed its considered view that the bilateral negotiations process launched at Annapolis is irreversible and that these negotiations should be intensified in order to put an end to the conflict and to establish, as soon as possible, the State of Palestine, living side by side in peace and security with Israel," the statement said.

The talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, launched by U.S. President George Bush in November last year at a conference in Annapolis, Maryland, have been stalled by the outbreak of violence in the Middle East, as well as long-standing disputes over the construction of Jewish settlements and the future status of Jerusalem.

The Quartet expressed concern that the Egyptian-brokered ceasefire, which came into effect on June 19, had recently been challenged, condemned indiscriminate attacks on Israel, and called for an immediate cessation of violence in the region.

The mediators also highlighted concern about frequent closures of border crossings in response to violence in Gaza, worsening the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave. They said food and other essentials supplies must be ensured continuously.

The Quartet called on the Palestinians to continue the reform of the security services and "dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism."

In addition, the group called on Israel to freeze all settlement activities, "which have a negative impact on the negotiating environment and on Palestinian economic recovery, and to address the growing threat of settler extremism."

The mediators welcomed Russia's proposal to hold a Middle East peace conference in Moscow next year.

The UN Security Council is expected to vote on Tuesday on a U.S.-drafted resolution on the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, which, according to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, would "put the international community on record in believing in the irreversibility of the

Annapolis process."