MOSCOW, September 23 (Itar-Tass) —— The Palestinians will have a bigger chance of the recognition of their independence if they appeal to the UN General Assembly rather than to the UN Security Council, Chairman of the State Duma International Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachyov told Itar-Tass on the sidelines of the United Russia congress on Friday.
“Two options are being discussed at the UN, that is an appeal to the UN Security Council for the admission to the UN as a member state and an appeal to the UN General Assembly for the status of an observer. The first option has predictable prospects – the Americans said they would block that decision and the appeal would hardly succeed,” he said.
“Meanwhile, the raising of this question at the UN General Assembly has much more realistic prospects. To my mind, the task is feasible,” Kosachyov said.
“A change of the status at the United Nations is less important to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) than the bigger attention to the Palestinian statehood problem, which would encourage the opponents to resume the negotiations,” he said.
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 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.