The diplomatic "quartet" on the Middle East peace process prepared to meet late Sunday to hear a report from its humanitarian envoy Tony Blair and discuss the political issues and Israeli-Palestinian conflict, DPA reported. The high-level meeting at UN headquarters was called in advance of the UN General Assembly session opening on Tuesday, at which world leaders are to address crises in the world, from the war in Iraq to economic and social woes in poor countries. The meeting in New York will be attended by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the European Union's foreign and security envoy Javier Solana, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Blair, who is the quartet representative. Attending the session will be also Portuguese Foreign Minister Luis Amado, whose country holds the current EU chair, and Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the EU commissioner for external affairs. Last week, Israel declared the Hamas-held Gaza Strip an "enemy entity," and has threatened to cut off electricity and water to the territory's 1.4 million Palestinians.
