UNITED NATIONS - The sponsors of the road map to peace between the Israelis and Palestinians will meet in New York on May 4 to try to give new impetus to the stalled plan, the European Union's foreign policy chief said.

The road map drafted by the Quartet - the EU, the United States, the United Nations and Russia - has been sidelined by Israel's unilateral decision to withdraw from Gaza and parts of the West Bank, which the Palestinians claim is a move to redraw borders.

Javier Solana told reporters after meeting Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Thursday that he hopes next month's Quartet meeting will clarify a lot of issues and "give a new impulse to the peace process."

"We are going to have an exchange of views with the Arab world before the Quartet (meeting)... to get a good outcome that will recuperate trust among the Palestinian people and the Arab world and recuperate also a new momentum for the peace process in the Middle East," he said.

Top UN envoy to the Middle East, Terje Roed-Larsen, said Friday that the possibility of an international presence to monitor Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip would be one of the main subjects for discussion at the Quartet meeting.

Palestinian leaders have scrambled to garner international support after U.S. President George W. Bush suggested Israel would not have to give back all the West Bank or accept Palestinian refugees as part of a final peace deal. Palestinians claim all of the West Bank and Gaza, along with the right of refugees and their descendants to return to Israel, if they so choose.

Solana discussed the Quartet meeting with Annan, who said last week that any Israeli initiative should not preclude negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians on "final-status" issues, including refugees and borders.

The EU foreign policy chief echoed this view.

"The starting point for negotiations on borders should be 1967," Solana said. "Any changes from the 1967 borders should be done by agreement of the two parties." The EU is prepared "to get engaged" in Israel's pullout from Gaza, he said.

"We are ready to cooperate on that if it's done properly - politically, economically, and any other manner - even if it's necessary" to help the situation "with people on the ground," Solana said, without elaborating.

Annan criticized Israel's latest incursion into the northern Gaza strip which ended Thursday, noting that at least 10 Palestinian civilians were killed, including five children. He recognized that the incursion followed rocket and mortar fire against Israeli targets but urged Israel to respect its international obligation not to use "disproportionate force in civilian areas," a statement from his spokesman said.

Annan and Solana have stressed that Israeli actions must be part of the road map and ensure that the end result is two independent states, Israel and Palestine, living side-by-side in peace.

Israel's UN Ambassador Dan Gillerman, who met Annan last week, said he made it "very clear" that Israel supports the road map and that "final-status agreements on all issues will be subject to negotiations between the parties."

But Solana said it's the Palestinians and Arab countries that are defending the road map "with more enthusiasm at this time."

"It's very important that the road map is maintained alive," he said.