Mideast quartet paralysed, restart sought - Merkel

MILAN, Jan 10 (Reuters) US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will see if conditions are right for a meeting of four-party West Asia peace mediators, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was quoted as saying today.

Rice leaves for the West Asia and Europe on Friday to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts and to seek Arab help in stabilising Iraq. The West Asia peace quartet groups the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia.

Merkel told Italy's La Stampa newspaper in an interview that US President George W Bush ''agrees with us on the fact that the quartet should take back its leading role''.

''The quartet, as is known, is paralysed in the face of recent developments, but it remains the most effective institutional possibility for coordinating international efforts in the region.'' She added, ''We have agreed that Condoleezza Rice, in a trip this weekend, should check if the conditions are there for a new meeting of the quartet, because we cannot intervene as mediators if the region's protagonists do not show a clear will to put an end to conflicts.'' Germany assumed the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union at the start of the year.

In London, British Prime Minister Tony Blair told parliament he hoped there would be a quartet meeting within the next few weeks.

''But I think what is very important now is to create the situation in which we build the capacity of the Palestinian Authority, that we ensure that the Palestinian people have their suffering alleviated and the proper money gets through to the Palestinians for the basic services they need,'' Blair said.

Palestinian armed factions have demanded Israel release more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for an Israeli soldier, Corporal Gilad Shalit, held captive by Palestinian militants in Gaza.

Blair said it was important that ''if at all possible we are able to get the release not just of Corporal Shalit but of the Palestinian prisoners likewise, and that in addition to that we are able to set out a framework for political negotiation leading to a negotiated solution between Israel and Palestine.'' ''I hope very much in the next few weeks we will be able to announce some progress on that issue,'' he said.

REUTERS KD RN2015