Reviving the Quartet

 The Quartet has been dormant since 2000, because any peace process requires negotiations between the parties in conflict.

Instead, the region has witnessed a policy of unilateral steps. Some measures - Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000 and from the Gaza Strip in 2005, or Hamas' year-long ceasefire - might be seen as constructive. But, however positive their aims, these steps were taken without consulting the opposite side, thereby entrenching the perception that no partner existed.