Quartet warning to Palestinians

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A key group of Middle East peace negotiators known as the Quartet has met to review progress towards renewing Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

A Quartet statement after talks in Berlin said the new Palestinian national unity government would have to renounce violence and recognise Israel.

The US secretary of state briefed the EU, UN and Russia on talks this week with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

The Palestinians had urged the Quartet to back its new unity government.

Condoleezza Rice's joint meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Monday in Jerusalem had ended without any significant progress.

'Realism'

The Quartet's statement, read out by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, expressed support for a Palestinian government "committed to non-violence and the recognition of Israel".

It's very difficult to imagine a circumstance in which you have peace talks but one party doesn't recognise the existence of the other Condoleezza Rice

It said it hoped to establish a new meeting within the region but no date had been set.

The new Palestinian unity government includes Mr Abbas's Fatah faction but also the Islamic militant group Hamas, which refuses to recognise Israel.

Ghazi Hamad, spokesman for the outgoing Hamas-led administration, had said: "We hope the Quartet will take a positive approach towards the government and not resort to pressure and boycott."

But Ms Rice said: "It's very difficult to imagine a circumstance in which you have peace talks but one party doesn't recognise the existence of the other."

However, she did say no decisions would be taken until the new unity government had been formed.

She also expressed support for Mr Abbas, saying he was "representative of the broad desire of Palestinians to live in peace and security".

Israel says there can be no final peace deal with the new unity government as it stands.

The Quartet boycotted the former Hamas-led government financially and politically after the latter's election win in January last year.

The Palestinians hope the new unity government, formed after bloody clashes between Hamas and Fatah, would lead to an end to the boycott that crippled the previous administration.