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Palestinian leader thanks RF for contributing to ceasing fire in Gaza

The Palestinian leader also thanked Russia for upholding Palestine’s application to give it the observer status in the U.N

MOSCOW, November 22 (Itar-Tass) — Member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation Executive Committee, Saleh Rafat, said Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas had thanked Russia for the efforts to cease fire in the Gaza Strip.

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Rafat said, “I brought a message to [President] Vladimir Putin from Mahmoud Abbas. We hope that Russia will continue its efforts aimed at ending the aggression against the Palestinian people.”

Rafat lauded the ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Hamas movement. The agreement “will help cease the bloodshed in the Gaza Strip”, he added.

Palestinian Ambassador to Russia Faed Mustafa said he is hopeful that the Pillar of Cloud operation would be the latest one against the Gaza Strip.

At the same time, the ambassador said, “The aggression is not only limited by the Gaza Strip.” “Hostile actions against Palestinians are different. The settlement policy continues and night attacks on Palestinians’ houses do not stop,” Mustafa stressed.

Palestine calls for peace “in order to prevent such actions in the future”, the ambassador said. “The armed actions between Israel and Palestine can break out again if the Palestinian problem is resolved. It is necessary to exert maximum effort to create a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital,” he noted.

Head of the League of Arab States Mission in Moscow Ibrahim al-Ferdjani said the Arab leaders “will insist the U.N. Security Council resolutions on the Palestinian-Israeli problem be implemented”. “We want to address the U.N. Security Council in order to end Israel’s aggression and create the Palestinian state,” the LAS official stressed.

Commenting on Russia’s contribution, Rafat said, “Yesterday I met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and we gave him a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin from Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. In the letter Abbas gave a high assessment to Russia’s efforts towards ceasing fire.”

The Palestinian leader also thanked Russia for upholding Palestine’s application to give it the observer status in the U.N., Rafat said. “Mahmoud Abbas asked Russia to continue its efforts to convince other countries to support our wish,” he added.

“Sergei Lavrov confirmed that Russia would continue contacts with many states and that it was committed to the position on creating an independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders,” the member of the PLO Executive Committee said.