"I look forward to the early publication of the roadmap," Straw told reporters after British Prime Minister Tony Blair met representatives of the Quartet of Mideast mediators at the Downing Street.

The diplomatic Quartet, which includes the European Union, the United Nations, the United States and Russia, has been working on a three-phase "roadmap" for Middle East peace, which would include the creation of a fully fledged Palestinian state by 2005.

"Meanwhile, what I think is important is that we make progress on the elements of the roadmap even though they are not published, as it were, in an official document," Straw said.

The quartet discussed with Blair the ongoing effort to produce a viable roadmap with the aim of boosting the stalled peace process, Straw said.

The quartet failed to publish the roadmap when they met in Washington in December after the United States and Israel requested the delay of the publication until Israel finishes its general election in January.

In another development, Israeli and Palestinian officials sat down with international donors Tuesday to tackle a worsening humanitarian crisis in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Palestinian officials said earlier that the Israeli and the Palestinian delegations would not meet with each other during the talks.

(Xinhua News Agency February 19, 2003)