France pushes new Quartet-plus for Mideast peace

France wants a new international group made up of the United States, European powers and Arab countries to be set up to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius says.

“It could be a sort of Quartet-plus,” Fabius tells reporters, referring to the foursome led by former British prime minister Tony Blair that comprised the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations.

Fabius says including Arab states “makes sense” because they have a role to play in the peace process and put forward a plan in 2002 that the foreign minister described as “interesting.”

The 2002 Arab Peace Initiative calls for an Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian territories in exchange for full normalization of ties between Israel and the Arab world.