The worldwide diplomatic “quartet” of Mideast peacemakers is calling once again for Israel and the Palestinians to take steps to resume stalled peace talks.
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Earlier in the day, representatives of the Quartet – including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, US Secretary of State John Kerry and EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy Federica Mogherini – met to discuss a path forward on the Israeli-Palestine conflict.
Netanyahu met with the US’s top diplomat in NY following the premier’s speech before the United Nations’ annual General Assembly debate, where the two also discussed security matters concerning the Middle East and the newly signed Memorandum of Understanding which aids Israel an estimated $38 billion dollars over the next 10 years. For the Palestinians, it means an end to incitement of violence.
They were joined for the latter part of their discussion by Ayrault and Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to meet with Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in NY on Sunday, officials involved in planning the meetings told NBC News.
“There are things we believe we can achieve in the next months and there are serious concerns we all have about security in the region”, Kerry said.
“Our goal is still the same: It’s to organize an global conference before the end of the year with both parties present”, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told reporters.
Netanyahu said that it was “always important and productive to talk directly about how we can advance peace and stability with our neighbors in the region”.
Ayrault has been trying to rally support for France’s proposal to organize an worldwide conference before the end of the year to present Israelis and Palestinians with a package of incentives if they reach a peace agreement. The two leaders presented starkly different visions of the path toward restarting peace talks.
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The senior official said that the meetings between Netanyahu and the candidates materialized during the last 24 hours, starting with a phone call Trump’s aides held with the prime minister’s advisors.
