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EU'foreign policy chief Javier Solana looks on during the Middle East Quartet meeting press conference in Trieste, Italy, 26 June 2009.
Photo: Giuseppe Casace in Trieste, AFP Copyright 2009.
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TRIESTE (AFP)---The diplomatic Quartet on Middle East peace as well as G8 Foreign Ministers called on Israel Friday to halt Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territories and open border crossings as a first step to advance peace.
"We are urging Israeli authorities to stop settlements including natural growth and remove all these blocks and open the crossings," UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told a news conference after a meeting in Trieste, Italy.
"This will be the first beginning to make sure all our proposals are implemented."
The quartet -- the European Union, Russia, the United States and the United Nations -- met in the northeastern Italian city to try to jumpstart the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
"We are trying very hard to seize on the very favorable political atmosphere" following US President Barack Obama's Cairo speech, said Ban.
The UN chief said Middle East peace sponsors were looking for "meaningful signs of progress in the coming few months" and reiterated its support for an international peace conference to be held in Moscow this year.
The Group of Eight called on both parties “to fulfill their obligations under the roadmap, including a freeze on settlement activity," said a final declaration.
"We call on all parties to re-enter direct negotiations on all standing issues consistent with the roadmap," said the Foreign Ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.
The G8 reiterated support for the creation of a Palestinian state "living in peace with Israel and its other neighbours within secure and recognised borders."
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told a news conference that a freeze on building Jewish settlements would help "create a climate of confidence conducive to peace negotiations."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week completed his first European tour in Rome and Paris during which French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged him to impose a "total freeze" on settlements.