Quartet outlines road map towards peace in the middle east while violence continues.

• Author: Sura, Vikram
• Position: United Nations; United States; Russian Federation; European Union

A terrorist car-bomb attack on 21 October, killing 14 Israelis, and an attack by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) in the Rafah refugee camp in Gaza, killing seven Palestinians, brought round condemnation from Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Censuring attacks against civilians in the strongest possible terms, he called on all Palestinian groups to stop immediately all acts of violence and for the Government of Israel to halt military actions in heavily populated areas.

The bloody deeds followed the meeting of the Quartet--the United Nations, the United States, the Russian Federation and the European Union--at UN Headquarters in New York on 17 September. Following the meeting, Mr. Annan said that the peace process needed to be performance- and hope-driven, "because we need both: performance and hope". The overall plan needed to address the political, economic, humanitarian and institutional dimensions, the Secretary-General said, and that in each phase, both parties should take reciprocal steps. The Israeli Government must allow resumption of economic activity, movement of goods, people and essential services, ease or lift curfew and closures, return the tax revenues owed to the Palestinian Authority and stop all Israeli settlement activity in the occupied territory. The Palestinians, he added, must work with the United States and regional partners to reform their security services and combat terrorism.

Outlining the road map drawn by the Quartet towards a final and comprehensive settlement within three years, the Secretary-General said the process would involve three phases. "The first phase will see Palestinian security reform, Israeli withdrawals, and support for Palestinian elections to be held in early 2003".

In the second phase, during 2003, Mr. Annan said, "our efforts should focus on the option of creating a Palestinian State with provisional borders and based on a new constitution, as a way station to a permanent status settlement. In the third phase, from 2004 to mid-2005, we...