The Quartet of mediators on the Middle East conflict will sit down with Palestinian and Israeli officials in Jerusalem on Wednesday, although hopes of restarting the deadlocked peace talks are faint at best.
The opposing sides and even the mediators themselves (the U.S., European Union, Russia and UN) are pessimistic.
"The Quartet, and particularly the U.S., does not seem to have a clear vision on how to restart negotiations," chief Palestinian negotiator Nabil Shaath told the Voice of Palestine Radio.
Palestinians have said they will not return to the talks until Israel stops all settlement activities in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem, and recognizes the lines which existed before the Six Day War in 1967 as the borders of the future Palestinian state.
"Our demands are very clear and they will not change for any reason," said Shaath, who is also a leading member in President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement.
Unless Israel complies with these conditions, he said, "we will not return to negotiations. There is just no point in them."
The mission by the Quartet of Mideast peace negotiators comes after the Palestinians asked the United Nations last month to recognize an independent state of Palestine. The request defied a U.S.-led effort to block the move, which is currently under review at the U.N. Security Council.
Immediately after the statehood application was submitted, the Quartet called for a resumption of peace talks in a month, with the ambitious goal of reaching a peace agreement by late 2012.
