The Middle East Quartet of international...

"We are strongly supporting your efforts to establish an independent and viable Palestinian state," Ban Ki-moon said after meeting Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

He also said he will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres in Jerusalem later on Saturday and visit Gaza on Sunday.

The visit follows the quartet"s meeting in Moscow on March 19 when Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Quartet"s special representative Tony Blair called on Israel to freeze all settlement activity and pledged to use all powers to resume Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Ban reiterated the quartet"s position at a news conference in Ramallah.

"The world has condemned Israel"s settlement plans in east Jerusalem," he said. "Let us be clear. All settlement activity is illegal anywhere in occupied territory and must

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