BRUSSELS (EJP)---European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton welcomed the decision by Israel and the Palestinians to resume direct talks next month.

"I welcome the decision by Israel and the Palestinians to resume direct negotiations. This decision by the parties to engage in substantive talks represents a major step on the road towards a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the region, something I am hopeful we can now achieve," said the High Representative of the  Union for Foreign Affairs and Ssecurity Policy.

"I want to firstly commend U.S. President Barack Obama, my U.S. counterpart, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Senator George Mitchell for their hard work and determination to bring the Israelis and Palestinians to the negotiating table. I want to also credit my Quartet partners and Quartet Envoy Tony Blair and I would like to thank all of the EU member states for their support of this process," she added. 

She also stressed the importance of the positive outcome of the Arab League Foreign Ministers meeting of July 29.

"As a member of the Quartet, and on behalf of the EU, I will continue to work with the parties to support the negotiations. We all want to see a two-state solution with the State of Israel and an independent, democratic, contiguous and viable State of Palestine, living side by side in peace and security with each other and their neighbor," said Ashton, who twice visited the Middle East this year.

She urged the parties to "work fast and hard on all the final status issues to meet the Quartet's call for a negotiated settlement within one year."

"To  give negotiations the best chance of success, an enabling environment on the ground is essential. It is therefore imperative that both parties keep calm and exercise restraint. They should only act on the basis of international law, refraining from all provocative actions and inflammatory rhetoric."

She stressed that successful negotiations will "need sustained regional, international support and the continuation of the Palestinian state-building process, which the EU fully supports. I call on all concerned to fulfil previous pledges to help the Palestinian Authority."

She reiterated the EU's "readiness to contribute substantially to post-conflict arrangements aimed at ensuring the sustainability of peace agreements."

In a statement issued on Friday, the Mideast Quartet – the European Union, the United Nations, the Russian Federation and the United States –  called on the Israelis and the Palestinians to join in launching direct negotiations on September 2 in Washington "to resolve all final status issues and fulfil the aspirations of both parties."

The Quartet reaffirmed  its Moscow statement in March which provides that "direct, bilateral negotiations that resolve all final status issues should lead to a settlement, negotiated between the parties, that ends of the occupation which began in 1967 and results in the emergence of an independent, democratic, and viable Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with Israel and its other neighbours."

The 2 September Washington meeting is to be hosted by US President Barack Obama. Both Israel and the Palestinian  Authority have accepted to meet in the US capital.