The United States has invited Middle East negotiators to Washington to try and breathe new life into the stalled peace process between Israelis and Palestinians, Reuters reported. Several European countries, including Germany, want the "quartet" -- the United States, United Nations, Russia and the European Union -- to play a bigger role in the process. "I have issued an invitation to the members of the quartet for a meeting in Washington ... likely to take place on February 2," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will attend and the meeting is fixed for Feb. 2, RIA news agency said. It quoted Russian negotiators as saying there would be a preparatory meeting in Paris on Jan. 24. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, meeting Egypt's foreign minister before talks on Friday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, joined growing calls to jump-start the tattered peace process by looking at aspects of a lasting deal. Speaking after a six-country tour of the Middle East, Rice said countries in the region were eager to see progress on the "road map" for peace between Israel and the Palestinians. "I did find the parties very desirous of accelerating progress on the road map, of extending the momentum that has been achieved in the meeting between (Israeli) Prime Minister (Ehud) Olmert and President Abbas," Rice said before meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Thursday. "The whole region is looking for a way to accelerate progress and to drive toward the establishment of a Palestinian state, and so this is a very important time."
