Middle East Quartet Urges All Sides to Commit to Talks

Israelis and Palestinians were urged today to make "every effort" to reach agreement on a Palestinian state by the end of this year amid mounting unease about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.

Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, said at a meeting in London of the Quartet of Middle East peacemakers that donors needed to fulfill "both their political and financial roles" in support of the talks, which were relaunched at the Annapolis summit in the US last November but are faltering badly.

The Quartet, comprising the US, EU, US and Russia, said in a carefully-worded statement issued at Lancaster House that "much remained to be done" to improve the situation on the ground "to change the conditions of life in the West Bank and keep the political process on track."

It also expressed "deep concern" at continuing settlement activity by Israel and used the same phrase – one of the sharpest in the diplomatic lexicon - about humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip, where 1.5 million Palestinians are living under siege.

In a nod to Israel the Quartet also condemned recent terrorist attacks – by Palestinian militants – on the Nahal Oz fuel terminal, as well as continuing rocket attacks from Gaza on southern Israel.

Before the meetings began Oxfam and other UK aid agencies had urged the Quartet to press Israel to end its blockade of Gaza.

Warning of "an impending humanitarian crisis," they added that the Israeli stranglehold "has made life for ordinary people intolerable" and made it near impossible for aid agencies to work there.

The most significant meeting of the day looked likely to be between Tzipi Livni, Israel's foreign minister, and her Egyptian counterpart, Ahmed Abu al-Gheit, as Egypt intensifies behind the scenes efforts to secure a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel. Diplomats say that could happen early next week.

Quartet foreign ministers, joined by Tony Blair, their Middle East envoy, held their talks behind closed doors.

Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, told reporters en route to London: "Countries that have resources and that have an interest in the establishment of a Palestinian state need to put those resources at use now in order to lay the groundwork for the establishment of that state." Officials said she was referring to Arab Gulf states.

President Bush, who convened the Annapolis summit after a seven-year freeze, said on Tuesday he was "still hopeful we will get an agreement by the end of my presidency." He is due to visit Israel next week as part of its 60th anniversary celebrations.