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Moscow hopes stagnation in Palestinian-Israeli talks will be over

It is necessary to create proper conditions for that and to avoid unilateral provocative steps

MOSCOW, March 16 (Itar-Tass) —— The Middle East Quartet will gather for its next meeting on April 11 through 12 in Washington on the sidelines of a meeting of Group of Eight foreign ministers, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told a briefing on Friday.

“There is stagnation in the Palestinian-Israeli settlement,” he said. “But in general, the work proceeds on the basis of the Quarter statement passed in New York on September 23, 2011.”

“This statement is a basis for the program of our immediate actions,” the Russian diplomat stressed and added that recently the Quartet foreign ministers held an informal meeting to tackle the issue of the Palestinian-Israeli settlement.

“We hope the stagnation in the Palestinian-Israeli talks will be overcome,” he said. “It is necessary to create proper conditions for that and to avoid unilateral provocative steps, such as the construction of settlements by the Israeli side.”

“Russia is worried over the recent escalation of tensions in the Gaza Strip, over the exchange of fire between Gaza and Israel,” he noted and called to “show restraint and spare no effort to achieve a lull and create necessary conditions to resume the Palestinian-Israeli negotiating process on a generally recognized international legal basis.”