ISRAELI AND Palestinian representatives have pledged to keep talking, even though they have failed to reach the deadline set by the Bush administration to clinch a peace deal this year.
After being briefed by both sides yesterday at a meeting at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, representatives of the quartet of international peace mediators promised to maintain their support for the process and announced a follow-up conference to be held in Moscow in the spring.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni updated envoys of the quartet from the US, European Union, Russia and the United Nations on what has been achieved since the peace process was relaunched almost a year ago at a meeting in Annapolis, Maryland.
However, they spoke in general terms and did not divulge the details of the negotiations.
Ms Livni described the negotiations with the Palestinians as serious and intensive. "We recognise the need to establish a Palestinian state, provided that it will not be a terror state," she said.
Prior to the meeting, Ms Livni told Israel Army radio that her goal was to keep pressure off Israel as elections approach, and avoid new diplomatic deadlines.
The quartet issued a statement after the talks which was read by UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon, which stressed the importance of the continuity of the peace process and "underlined its commitment to the irreversibility of the bilateral negotiations".
Speaking at a news conference after the meeting, US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice said: "I believe that the Annapolis process is now the international community's answer and the parties' answer to how we finally end the conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis."
However, the chances of finally ending the conflict now hinge on two key factors: the outcome of the Israeli elections in February, and how much effort the new administration in Washington will put into Middle East peace-making.
The quartet's special Middle East envoy Tony Blair urged US president-elect Barack Obama to prioritise the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. "The single most important thing is that the new administration in the United States grips this issue from day one and it can do so knowing that there is a foundation upon which we can build," Mr Blair said.
Ms Livni headed the Israeli team in the year-long negotiations with the Palestinians, and will be keen to see the talks brought to a successful conclusion if she is elected the country's next prime minister. But polls regarding that election show a close contest.
If Ms Livni's main opponent, Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the right-wing Likud party, becomes Israel's new leader, the Annapolis process could stop dead in its tracks. Mr Netanyahu has indicated that he opposes any concessions to the current Palestinian leadership and says he will not even discuss the issue of Jerusalem. The Palestinians insist that Arab neighbourhoods of Jerusalem must be the capital of their future state.