Ahlul Bayt News Agency ; The Middle East peace Quartet urged Israel to extend the settlements freeze due to expire at the end of September.
According to a statement released on Tuesday, the Quartet -made up of the UN, the US, the EU and Russia- "noted that the commendable Israeli settlement moratorium instituted last November has had a positive impact and urged its continuation."
The Quartet's statement repeated the bloc's backing for the current peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians, launched just this month with U.S. backing, and reaffirmed its hopes for a deal within one year that will see a viable Palestinian state emerge side-by-side with Israel.
The statement urged both sides to refrain from "provocative actions and inflammatory rhetoric", and called upon Israel to further ease restrictions on Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
U.S. has already called Israel to extend the moratorium on new settlement activity. For their part, the Palestinians have said they will drop out of the peace talks unless the freeze continues, but Netanyahu has been reluctant to take that step.
However, the British daily "The Guardian" reported on Monday that Netanyahu agreed to extend the partial freeze for three months in return for the release of an American jailed for life on charges of spying for Tel Aviv Jonathan Pollard.
The Quartet's statement also condemned, as usual, "continued violence", particularly an attack in the occupied West Bank which killed four Israelis on August 31 and was claimed by the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas.
The statement committed the bloc to remain involved in the negotiations, and said it supported holding an international Middle East peace conference in Moscow at a date yet to be determined.
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