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Russia supports Palestinian appeal for UN recognition of their sovereignty – Lavrov

The Palestinians plan to appeal for the recognition of Palestine at the session, and the majority of UN member states are ready to support their appeal

UNITED NATIONS, September 20 (Itar-Tass) —— Russia is ready to support the Palestinian appeal for the UN recognition of its state sovereignty, in order to bolster the Middle East peace process, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who heads the Russian delegation to the UN General Assembly session, said an interview to be published by the Wednesday issue of the Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper.

“The Palestinians plan to appeal for the recognition of Palestine at the session, and the majority of UN member states are ready to support their appeal,” he said.

“They [the Palestinians] declared that their appeal to the UN would not be an alternative to the negotiations. As far as we understand, the appeal to the UN is bound to accentuate the pressing task of the soonest settlement of the Palestinian problem at the negotiations on the basis of the universally recognized international legal platform,” he said. “We support this attitude,” he added.

“It is extremely topical to intensify the creation of mutually acceptable conditions for the resumption of the negotiations,” he said. “It would not be expedient to change the format of the mediation in the Palestinian-Israeli settlement.”

“The existent mechanism of support – the Quartet of Russia, the United States, the European Union and the United Nations – has proven its worth,” he said. “This mechanism is accepted and recognized by the parties to the conflict – the Palestinians and the Israelis, as well as all the other interested parties, the UN Security Council.”

“It is the most important for the Quartet members to be unbiased and to insist on the fulfillment of the earlier agreements by the sides,” Lavrov said.

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