Quartet on the Middle East

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by AlnoktaBOT (talk | contribs) at 10:33, 27 July 2007 (robot Adding: ar:اللجنة الرباعية الدولية). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The Quartet on the Middle East, sometimes called the Diplomatic Quartet or simply the Quartet, is a foursome of nations and international and supranational entities involved in mediating the peace process in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Quartet are the United States, Russia, the European Union, and the United Nations. The group was established in 2002, as a result of the escalating conflict in the Middle East. Tony Blair is the Quartet's current Special Envoy.

James Wolfensohn, the former president of the World Bank, served as the Quartet's Special Envoy for Israel's disengagement from Gaza between May 2005 and April 2006. The Special Envoy was charged by the Quartet with leading, overseeing and coordinating the international community's efforts in support of the disengagement initiative.

On 27 June 2007, Tony Blair announced that he had accepted the position of the official envoy of the Quartet, the same day he resigned as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Member of Parliament. This has come after some reservations from Russia due to frosty relations between the UK and Russia, exacerbated by the former's efforts to extradite Andrei Lugovoy for the murder of an ex-KGB spy in London, Alexander Litvinenko.[1] However, the UN has strongly endorsed Blair as the right man for the job.[citation needed]

The Quartet and its representatives

See also

References

  1. ^ Naughton, P. "Russia and Britain clash over Litvinenko", The Times, May 22, 2007

External links