The Palestinian Authority (PA) welcomed Saturday a Quartet statement on the Middle East conflict which called on Israel to stop settlement activities in the occupied territories. The PA said in a statement published on the official 'Wafa' news agency that it "welcomes the Quartet call on the Israeli authorities to halt construction in the settlements, including expansion for reasons of natural growth, as well as removing checkpoints and opening crossings." It called on the international community "to put pressure on Israel to implement its obligations, particularly those in the road map." These obligations include halting all settlement activities and turning over the Palestinian cities to full PA control. The quartet of Middle East negotiators - the European Union, Russia, the United States and the United Nations - met on the sidelines of a meeting for the foreign ministers of the world's eight leading industrialized powers (G8) held in Trieste, Italy on Friday. A joint quartet statement called on Israel to stop building or expanding settlements in Palestinian territory and urged it to ease its blockade of the Gaza Strip. "The only viable solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one that ends the occupation that began in 1967 and fulfils the aspirations of both parties' independent homelands through two states for two peoples," said the statement.
