The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) on Saturday welcomed new international calls for Israel to freeze Jewish settlement in the West Bank and to endorse a Palestinian statehood.

The calls were made by the Quartet of Mideast peace negotiators at the end of a meeting of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized nations in Italy on Friday.

"The Palestinian leadership also hails the calls for stopping the so-called natural growth of the settlements, lifting all checkpoints and opening the crossings," said a PNA statement sent to the media.

The statement urged the international community to put pressure on Israel to carry out its obligations under the US-backed Road Map which ends up with the creation of a Palestinian statehood alongside the Jewish state.

The representatives of the Quartet, which comprises the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia held its first meeting yesterday since US President Barack Obama took office.

George Mitchell, Obama's envoy to Israel and the Palestinian territories, hopes that the two sides can resume their talks soon but the Palestinians refuse to start the negotiations unless all settlement activities are halted.

(Xinhua News Agency June 28, 2009)