Ramallah, Mar 16 (IANS): Palestine has welcomed the recent efforts of some Arab and European countries to create an atmosphere for peace with Israel.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman of the Palestinian President, told reporters on Monday that the peace process had been stalled due to the policy of the former US administration and the Israeli right-wing government, reports Xinhua news agency.

Abu Rudeineh referred to a series of meetings held by the Munich Group in Paris over the last few weeks on resuming the stalled peace process in the Middle East.

The Munich Group, or the Munich Format, refers to the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, France, and Germany meeting on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in February 2020, to discuss Israel-Palestine peace efforts.

Subsequent meetings took place in July via video conferencing, September in Jordan and January 2021 in Cairo.

Peace talks between Israelis and the Palestinians have remained stalled since 2014.

"Since 2014, the Israeli right-wing government has been refusing to cooperate with the international community to create this atmosphere that will lead to achieving peace in the region," Abu Rudeineh said.

He noted that the Palestinian side "is fully coordinating these efforts with the Egyptian and Jordanian brothers," adding that it "backs any efforts that preserve international law and the two-state solution".

But he stressed the Munich Group is not an alternative to the Middle East Quartet, comprising the United Nations, the European Union, the US and Russia.

Saying the Palestinian side welcomes the expansion of the Middle East Quartet, he voiced the hope that some Arab and European countries will be included.

Meanwhile, Abu Rudeineh reiterated the Israeli settlement in Palestine is illegal and that real peace requires the establishment of a Palestinian state on 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.