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Mideast Quartet Should Meet Regularly - Lavrov

12 March 2012 23:42 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The Quartet of Middle East mediators - the United Nations, United States, European Union and Russia - should operate on regular basis to foster conditions for Palestinian-Israeli contacts and subsequent full-fledged dialogue, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday, APA reports quoting Ria Novosti.

The Arab Spring has drawn the international communityâ€™s attention, but the Palestinian-Israeli problem should not be neglected, Lavrov said at a UN Security Council meeting.

â€œWe believe that the conflict potential of Middle East and Northern Africa will remain high until an all-encompassing Mideast settlement is reached,â€ he said, adding that this challenge is the historic responsibility of UN and the international community.

â€œRussia is open to close cooperation with all responsible members of the international community to reach it,â€ the minister said.

On Monday the quartet called on Israelis and Palestinians to help move the dialogue forward and refrain from provocations.

The last meeting of the Quartet took place in September 2011 in the UN headquarters.

The Quartet on the Middle East was established in 2002 and is devoted to negotiating peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Tensions have been escalating in the conflict zone since Friday, and have seen the two sides trading rocket attacks and airstrikes