"We urge both parties to take advantage of this opportunity to get back to talks," Clinton said after the United States, Russia, the European Union and United Nations called for the parties to resume talks in a month.
"The Quartet proposal represents the firm conviction of the international community that a just and lasting peace can only come through negotiations between the parties," she said.
The Middle East Quartet called Friday for the parties to resume peace talks within a month and commit to seeking a deal by the end of 2012, after the Palestinians formally asked the United Nations to admit Palestine as a full member state.
The United States has vowed to veto the unilateral bid at the UN Security Council, arguing that the resumption of direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians is the only real path to peace and statehood.
Direct talks ground to a halt in September 2010 when Israel failed to renew a partial freeze on settlement construction in the occupied West Bank.
(U.S008/C003)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
