Russia urges Middle East Quartet to convene as soon as possible

MOSCOW - Moscow calls for an early meeting of the Middle East Quartet following the changes in the status of the Palestinians in the United Nations, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Friday.

"We expect that after the upgrading of Palestine's status in the UN the substantive Palestinian-Israeli negotiations will resume," the ministry said in a statement posted on its website.

"We also call for a sooner ministerial meeting of the Middle East Quartet for a comprehensive analysis of the situation" so as to overcome the stalemate in the peace talks, the statement added.

On Thursday, the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly backed a resolution recognizing the Palestinians as a non-member observer state.

"We also took into account the promises made by the Palestinian leadership that the upgrading of its status in the UN was not targeting Israel and that the way to solve the problem via political negotiation has no alternative," the statement added.

Thursday marked the 65th anniversary of the UN General Assembly's adoption of Resolution 181, which partitioned the land of historic Palestine into two states.

The Russian Foreign Ministry stressed that with the creation of the State of Israel, the partition resolution has been implemented only by half.

Established in 2002 as a major mediator in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the Quartet groups the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia.