U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Tuesday will host members of the Middle East peacemaking Quartet and foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Egypt to discuss a solution to political and humanitarian problems in the Middle East. The main Quartet principles include Annan, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Javier Solana. Other Europeans participating in the meeting are Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik, whose country holds the current EU presidency, and EU Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero Waldner. Three key Middle Eastern countries also will participate in the meetings. Saudi Arabia will be represented by Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal. Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States, Prince Turki al-Faisal, also will attend. Egypt will be represented by Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Abou Gheit, and Jordan will be represented by Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdelelah Al-Khatib. “We are here to find solutions to the issue of Palestine,” a Saudi diplomat told S.P.A. on condition of anonymity. He noted that the meeting would likely involve discussing future strategies for funding the Palestinian Authority (PA) as well as key political issues. Although U.N. officials and Middle Eastern diplomats said there is no scheduled agenda for the Quartet talks, participants are expected to discuss how to deliver humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territories despite the refusal of the United States and the EU to work directly with the Hamas-dominated Palestinian government. --MORE
