Parties urged to enter Mideast talks

INTERNATIONAL diplomats yesterday called on Israel and the Palestinians to return to peace negotiations with the goal of creating an independent Palestinian state within two years.

They reiterated their condemnation of Israel’s latest move to add Jewish housing in disputed east Jerusalem but did not strengthen it.

The so-called Quartet group of Middle East negotiators — the US, Russia, the UN and the EU — met in the Russian capital to set the stage for peace talks in which the US would be a go-between.