BERLIN, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- While some praise the revival of the peace Quartet on the Middle East, others are pessimistic how much it can really achieve.
Christian Hanelt, Middle East expert at the Bertelsmann Foundation, a privately funded German think tank, Thursday told German news channel n-tv it was a "very positive" indication that the Quartet has met twice in the past three weeks.
"That way the intermediation process is established at a very high level, with the Americans taking over the main role and being supported by the other players," he said.
Comprised of the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia, the Quartet talks were reactivated by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country currently heads the EU and Group of Eight presidencies. The group has pledged to support a Palestinian unity government -- made up of Fatah and Hamas -- that renounces violence and accepts Israel's right to exist.
But it is exactly that last condition seems to be the problem.
"This unity government, because of Hamas' unwillingness to alter its positions, is not willing to recognize Israel," Karsten Voigt, the coordinator for German-American relations in Berlin, told n-tv. Real support of the unity government, however, could only come under such a pretense.
On Wednesday, leaders of the Quartet had met in Berlin. The next meeting is supposed to take place in the Middle East.
