The Middle East Quartet of international mediators during a meeting in Moscow has called on the Israeli government to freeze all settlement activity in East Jerusalem.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the Quartet would do its best to resume indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

"The members of the Quartet have agreed that we will use all our powers to encourage the Israelis and Palestinians to resume indirect talks. We think that the announcement that we have made today states very clearly the assessment of the situation and paves the way first towards the start of indirect talks, and to direct talks," Lavrov said.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said a new peace agreement between Israel and Palestinian authorities should be reached within 24 months.

The Middle East peace efforts stalled last week after Israel's announcement that it had given the go-ahead for the building of 1,600 housing units for Jewish families in the disputed area of East Jerusalem. The news threatened to derail the agreed resumption of peace talks, with the Palestinian side saying it would pull out unless the building plans were abandoned.

Settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, both occupied by Israel since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, has been the main obstacle to reviving peace talks.

Under the internationally agreed roadmap for Middle East peace, Israel is obliged to freeze all settlement construction activity and remove unauthorized outposts built since 2001 from Palestinian territories.

MOSCOW, March 19 (RIA Novosti)