UNITED NATIONS - U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell consulted on Tuesday with other international mediators on how to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The "quartet" meeting between Powell and officials from the European Union, Russia and the United Nations was a chance to assess a detailed plan drawn up by the EU to promote security, Palestinian reform and a final peace deal.

The EU produced its "road map" to supplement the ideas outlined in a June 24 speech by U.S. President George W. Bush for the creation of a Palestinian state within three years.

While Bush said Israel must eventually end its 35-year-old occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and dismantle its settlements there, he put the onus on the Palestinians to reform their institutions and choose leaders "not compromised by terror" - a reference to President Yasser Arafat.

The quartet was due to meet later in the day with a group of Arab foreign ministers that was expanded this week, when Syria and Lebanon joined Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

The change in the Arab delegation could broaden the talks beyond the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, adding to the agenda Syria's demand for Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights.

Lebanon also has disputes with Israel over a small area near the Israeli-Syrian border and over Lebanese plans to pump more water from springs that also supply Israel.

Lebanon, the current president of the Arab League, hosted an Arab summit in March that endorsed a Saudi offer of peace and normal relations with Israel in return for full withdrawal from the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights.

The Arab ministers met on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly on Monday to coordinate ahead of the talks with the quartet, made up of Powell, top EU officials, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Nabil Shaath, the Palestinian representative at the meeting, said the Arab delegation must call for an end to the Israeli occupation and Israeli restrictions on the movement of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

"There is a European draft, the details of which we hope have been developed for it to be the basis (for diplomatic action). We don't want just a general meeting," he added.

The United States and Israel have previously preferred to keep the Israeli-Palestinian conflict separate from the dormant Syrian and Lebanese tracks of Middle East diplomacy.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said on Tuesday the violence of the past two years, since Palestinians rose up against Israeli occupation, could have been avoided if Israel had responded more aggressively to what he called Palestinian violations of interim peace accords.

"This is the Middle East. There is no mercy for any sign of weakness or restraint on the breach of agreements," he said at a Jerusalem ceremony commemorating the 1973 Middle East war.

The Palestinians also accuse Israel of failing to meet its obligations under the 1993 Oslo interim accords.