Aid agencies say Middle East peace Quartet failing

[Scurrilous]

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"Aid agencies accused the Quartet of Middle East peace negotiators on Thursday of failing in its mission and urged it to show it was up to the task.

The agencies issued a critical report just before the Quartet -- Russia, the United States, the European Union and the United Nations -- meets in New York on Friday to discuss the peace process.

"The Middle East Quartet is failing -- making inadequate progress towards improving the lives of Palestinians (and not) improving the prospects for peace," a coalition of 21 aid agencies and human rights organisations said in a statement.

CARE International U.K., Christian Aid, Oxfam and Save the Children were among the agencies behind the report.

They said this week's meeting would take place at "a critical moment for the quartet to demonstrate that it can play an effective role in bringing peace to the Middle East".

"Unless there is a swift and dramatic improvement, it will be necessary to question what the future is for the Middle East Quartet," it said."

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