Pressure grows on Israel at London peace talks

The Quartet of Middle East peacemakers are putting Israel under pressure to end the building of illegal settlements in the West Bank whilst admitting that the policy of isolating Hamas is simply not working as they deal with Bush's tattered hopes of establishing a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians by the end of the year.

Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian prime minister, warned bluntly that peace efforts might collapse. "Israel has failed to meet any of its obligations from the 'road map', including a freeze in settlement activity," he said after meeting the Israeli foreign minister, Tzipi Livni. "That is most troubling. Unless that changes, the political process is being stripped of its meaning."

Diplomats said that a ceasefire between Israel and the Islamist movement Hamas, which controls Gaza, was possible, with expectations mounting that Egypt will send its intelligence chief to Israel next week to thrash out a package that could end months of Palestinian rocket fire and Israeli raids and free an Israeli soldier held captive for two years.

Overall, though, the mood was bleak at the biggest international meeting on the Middle East held this year. Even the usually optimistic Tony Blair, the Quartet envoy, sounded frustrated. "We've been working on proposals to improve conditions on the West Bank," he said. "These are economic projects, lifting access restrictions, trying to build a better life for ordinary Palestinians. I hope in the next few weeks to get a response from Israel."

The reason for the failure of the talks was best expressed by Saudi Arabia's veteran foreign minster, Prince Saud al-Faisal, who said:

"It seems we have reached a stage that I can only describe as a morass." He attacked Israel for insisting on achieving "absolute security" which meant "absolute insecurity" for the Palestinians.

Israel's need for security has been the reason why many peace talks in the past have failed. It's a strange business where the occupied people must ensure the safety of their occupiers before ending the occupation can be considered. And all the while, Israel continues to build more and more illegal settlements, taking more and more Palestinian land. It's not difficult to see why the Palestinians are skeptical.

However, even the Quartet have started to admit that the policy of blockading Gaza in the hope that the Palestinians would reject Hamas has simply proved counterproductive and has caused a humanitarian catastrophe for the majority of the 1.5 million population of the Gaza Strip.

The Quartet are proposing a "new approach" for Gaza:

"Principals strongly encouraged Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Egypt to work together to formulate a new approach on Gaza that would provide security to all Gazans, end all acts of terror [and] provide for the controlled and sustained opening of the Gaza crossings for humanitarian reasons and commercial flows," said the Quartet.

A majority of Israelis favour their government negotiating with Hamas, especially if this will help lead to the release of Gilad Shalit.

Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas Prime Minister, said the deal represented a united Palestinian position.

"We would not accept new [Israeli] conditions ... The ball is now in the Israeli court and if they decide on rejection, I think that neither we as a people nor Egypt will accept the closure of the crossings or the continuation of the siege," said Mr Haniyeh.

Israel has said it would only agree to a truce with Palestinian militants in Gaza if cross-border rocket attacks on Israel and arms smuggling into the territory ended.

Asked whether an agreement was close on reopening the border crossings with Gaza, an Israeli embassy official replied: "Of course not."

Tony and the Quartet are about to find out just how intransigent the Israelis can be.

The Quartet, comprising the US, EU, US and Russia, expressed "deep concern" at continuing settlement activity by Israel and used the same phrase - one of the sharpest in the diplomatic lexicon - about conditions in the Gaza Strip.

The Quartet are making their concerns known in their strongest diplomatic language, but I won't be holding my breath for Israel's response. The Israelis have been doing this for decades. Talking always about security whilst continuing to build on Palestinian land.

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Tags: Israel, Palestine, Quartet, peace talks, Annapolis, Hamas