Mideast quartet, G8 call on Israel to freeze settlements

TRIESTE, Italy, (AFP/Reuters) - Pressure grew on Israel Friday to take concrete steps for peace as both the
diplomatic quartet and the Group of Eight called for the Jewish state to halt West Bank settlements.
We are urging Israeli authorities to stop settlements including natural (demographic) growth, UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told a news conference.
This will be the first beginning to make sure all our proposals are implemented, he said.
The quartet - the European Union, Russia, the United States and the United Nations - met in the northeastern
Italian city of Trieste to try to jumpstart the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Just hours earlier the Group of Eight leading world powers, also meeting in Trieste, made the same appeal,
calling on both parties to fulfil their obligations under the roadmap, including a freeze on settlement activity.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who attended both talks in Trieste, said: We want to achieve
full-fledged resumption of direct negotiations between the parties themselves on all tracks.
The quartets declaration also called for an unequivocal end to violence and terrorism, calling on the
Palestinian Authority to continue to make every effort to improve law and order and to fight violent extremism.
Ban, noting the change of government in both Israel and the US this year, said: We are trying very hard to seize
on the very favourable political atmosphere following US President Barack Obamas Cairo speech, which he
described as quite a historic and powerful statement.
The foreign ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States
reiterated support for the creation of a Palestinian state living in peace with Israel and its other neighbours
within secure and recognised borders.
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told a news conference that a freeze on building Jewish settlements
would help create a climate of confidence conducive to peace negotiations.
The G8 foreign ministers condemned in the strongest terms the nuclear test conducted by North Korea on May
25 in violation of UN Security Council resolution 1718 and the rocket launch of 5 April which constitute a threat to
regional peace and stability.
They also deplored violence in Iran after the disputed presidential election and called on Tehran to resolve the
crisis peacefully. But they were careful not to slam the door on possible talks with Iran over its nuclear
programme.
They encouraged Tehran to accept an offer of nuclear negotiations although they said it had a limited time to do
so.
We deplore post-electoral violence, which led to the loss of lives of Iranian civilians. We...urge Iran to respect
fundamental human rights, said the G8, which includes the US, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada
and Russia. The G8 called for the crisis to be settled through democratic dialogue and peaceful means and
urged the govt to guarantee that the will of the Iranian people is reflected in the electoral process.
The G8 voiced deep concern over Irans nuclear programme but said it remained committed to a diplomatic
solution.
We sincerely hope that Iran will seize this opportunity to give diplomacy a chance to find a negotiated solution to
the nuclear issue, the G8 statement said.