UK-Ouartet-Gaza
The international Quartet for the Middle East Friday expressed "deep concern" over the humanitarian situation in Gaza, calling for the provision of essential services to resume "without obstruction."

In a joint statement issued after talks in London, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also urged Israel "to freeze all settlement activity including natural growth, and to dismantle outposts" but only those erected since March 2001.

Ahead of the meeting, six British aid agencies called on the Quartet of the UN, US, EU and Russia to end their "collective complacency about Israel by putting the highest diplomatic pressure on the Israeli government to lift the blockade on Gaza."
The UN chief said that the group welcomed "concrete steps by both sides", such as the removal of some Israeli roadblocks and Palestinian security improvements, but warned that "much more remained to be done."
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice attending the talks dismissed scepticism about the latest peace process that was launched last November at Annapolis and which pledged to create an independent Palestinian state by the end of this year.

"The fact that one can't see churning under the water I think has led people to believe that there is nothing, no progress is being made," Rice said. "I just think it's not right. I think they are making progress," she insisted.

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