The European Union urged Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman to avoid "provocative" acts on Tuesday after he called for the resignation of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

An EU spokeswoman recalled that the Quartet of Middle East peacebrokers, the United States, United Nations, EU and Russia, have called on Israelis and Palestinians "to refrain from provocative actions."

Lieberman's remarks "are regrettably not helpful to create the environment of trust conducive to negotiations," said Maja Kocijancic, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

She recalled that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the Palestinian leader to be his "partner in peace."

The EU values Abbas's "central role" and his commitment to "a just and lasting resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," the spokeswoman added.

Referring to past comments by Abbas that he would not run again for president, Lieberman told journalists at a briefing in Jerusalem on Monday that his departure would be "a blessing."

"He's threatening to give the keys over to someone else? That's no threat, it's a blessing and I hope he finally does it," Israeli news website Ynet quoted Lieberman as saying. "Any replacement would be better than him."

Quartet envoys are to meet in Jerusalem on Wednesday separately with Israeli and Palestinian officials to seek a way to break the impasse in peace talks, suspended in September 2010.