EU seeks to bolster Middle East peace Quartet via Arab involvement
 

(Adds background on Blair) By Luke Baker and Adrian Croft JERUSALEM/BRUSSELS, March 2 (Reuters) - High-level discussions are under way to more closely involve Arab states in the work of the Middle East Quartet and reinvigorate the four-member group that has been seeking to mediate in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since 2002. Rather than formally expanding the Quartet's membership, the idea is to have more frequent top-level meetings with at least Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt to ensure the region is better engaged at a time of tumultuous change, according to senior diplomats based in the Middle East and Europe. Federica Mogherini, the European Union's foreign affairs chief, is expected to appoint a special envoy to the Middle East in the coming days. Officials said a first meeting of the Quartet - comprising the United States, United Nations, the EU and Russia - along with Arab countries and perhaps the Arab League could take place in the coming weeks.

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