Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, has slammed a recent report issued by the Middle East Quartet on the weakening Palestine-Israel peace process.

Both Palestinian and Israeli leadership reacted with disappointment to a report released Friday by the Middle East Quartet – the United States, Russia, the European Union, and the United Nations – which deliberately underscored the major hurdles in a two-state solution.

“The report… does not fulfil its mission nor will it lead to peace,” Abbas said after preforming Eid al-Fitr prayers in Ramallah, adding, “We call on the UN Security Council not to support it.”

Abbas urges UN Security Council to reject Quartet report https://t.co/CcqPFcAoUv #Middle_East

— Lebanese (@lebanesepress) July 6, 2016

Peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians have been suspended since 2014, when Israel reiterated its refusal to halt illegal settlement construction and withdraw from Palestinian lands occupied in 1967.

Abbas stated: “The Palestinians want to be told that the settlements are illegitimate and illegal and should end”.

Meanwhile, the office of Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, slammed the Middle East Quartet for “perpetuating the myth that Israeli construction in the West Bank is an obstacle to peace”.

The report highlighted two other main trends that undermined peace: violence and incitement on both sides, as well as the Palestinian Authority’s lack of control over the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.

PLO Secretary General, Saeb Erekat, criticized the report in a statement, saying that it “does not meet our expectations as a nation living under a foreign colonial military occupation” adding that “it attempts to equalize the responsibilities between a people under occupation and a foreign military occupier”.

(PC, MEMO, MA’AN)