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M. Continuo

Aid agencies say Middle East peace Quartet failing


    LONDON (Reuters) - Aid agencies accused the Quartet of Middle East peace negotiators on Thursday of failing in its mission and urged it to show it was up to the task.

    The agencies issued a critical report just before the Quartet -- Russia, the United States, the European Union and the United Nations -- meets in New York on Friday to discuss the peace process.

    "The Middle East Quartet is failing -- making inadequate progress towards improving the lives of Palestinians (and not) improving the prospects for peace," a coalition of 21 aid agencies and human rights organisations said in a statement.

    CARE International U.K., Christian Aid, Oxfam and Save the Children were among the agencies behind the report.

    They said this week's meeting would take place at "a critical moment for the quartet to demonstrate that it can play an effective role in bringing peace to the Middle East."

    "Unless there is a swift and dramatic improvement, it will be necessary to question what the future is for the Middle East Quartet," it said.

    U.S. President George W. Bush launched Israeli-Palestinian peace talks at Annapolis, near Washington, last November, seeking a deal on the establishment of a Palestinian state before he leaves office next January.

    The agencies said the deadline seemed unlikely to be met.

    They added that the "visible progress on the ground" demanded by the Quartet when it met in Berlin in June had not materialised.

    On five of the Quartet's 10 objectives, such as improving access to Palestinian territories, there had been no change or a "marked deterioration," they said.

    Despite efforts by Quartet members to signal opposition to the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, there had been an acceleration in construction and no serious attempts by the Israeli authorities to dismantle outposts, they said.

    The Quartet had failed to secure the removal of Israeli checkpoints and other obstacles that would allow Palestinians to see a tangible improvement in their daily lives, the agencies added.

    "There is no 'new reality' in the West Bank: The economy continues to stagnate and the blockade of Gaza continues," the report said.

    The Quartet had secured substantial funding pledges but this had not yet led to the prompt delivery of projects or improved the lives of Palestinians, they said.

    (Reporting by Adrian Croft; Editing by Andrew Dobbie)