UNITED NATIONS, September 26 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The four powers behind the Middle East road map Friday, September 26, painted a grim picture of the peace process, saying that both Israel and the Palestinians were not taking the steps needed to make progress.

After the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia held their first high-level talks on the so-called "road map" plan since June, they blasted Israeli settlement activity and continuing Palestinian attacks, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"Each party must do more to address, immediately and simultaneously, the core concerns of the other as described in the road map," U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said, reading a joint statement.

Speaking on his own behalf, Annan said that the two sides "seem unable to find their way out of the current quagmire" without outside help.

"It seems to me that bold steps, in keeping with the road map, are now necessary to salvage peace. Small steps have not worked. They are unlikely to work in the future," he said.

Annan, however, stopped short of spelling out what those steps might be. His chief envoy to the Middle East, Terje Roed-Larsen, told the U.N. Security Council earlier this month that the peace process was at a standstill.

The group statement condemned what they termed "vicious terror attacks" by Palestinians in the past two months and called on the Palestinian leadership to take "immediate, decisive steps" to clamp down on those planning bloodshed.

"Such actions are morally indefensible and do not serve the interests of the Palestinian people," the statement said.

It told the Israelis: "Settlement activity must stop."

The statement also noted "with great concern" the security barrier being built by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government in a bid to stop the attacks.

"It results in the confiscation of Palestinian land, cuts off the movement of people and goods, and undermines Palestinians' trust in the roadmap process as it appears to prejudge final borders of a Palestinian state," it said.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said he agreed with Annan, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and Foreign Minister Franco Frattini of current EU president Italy to send envoys more regularly to the region in an attempt to get the peace process off the ground again.

"The implementation of the road map is confronting some serious problems," Ivanov said. The four principals said they would meet again before the end of the year.

Despite the current freeze, the quartet reaffirmed its commitment to the road map plan, unveiled earlier this year to great fanfare.

The plan envisions a Palestinian state by 2005, something that Annan said was essential to resolving the crisis.

"The only alternative to the two-state solution is long-term conflict and instability," he said.

The road map was announced when Mahmud Abbas became Palestinian Prime Minister but Abbas has since stepped down, saying Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat refused to cede control over security services needed to crack down on armed resistance factions.

Powell again said that much was on hold until a new Palestinian government is announced, something that Ahmed Qorei, tapped to replace Abbas, said Friday would happen "in the next few days."