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Russia ready to help restore Palestinian unity - foreign ministry

The conversation was initiated by the Palestinian side

MOSCOW, September 4. /TASS/. Russian president’s special envoy for the Middle East and African countries and Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov has reiterated Russia’s readiness to help restore Palestine’s unity on the political platform of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the Russian foreign ministry said on Friday after his telephone conversation with Bassam al-Salhi, a PLO Executive Committee member and the leader of the Palestinian People’s Party.

"The Russian side expressed readiness to continue to assisting the soonest restoration of Palestine’s national unity on the political platform of the Palestine Liberation Organization, including by means of organizing another intra-Palestinian meeting in Moscow," the ministry said.

According to the ministry, al-Salhi shared his opinion about the September 3 videoconference of the leaders of all key Palestinian political movements. "It was noted that the videoconference had a major importance in terms of consolidating Palestinians on common positions in the interests of a fair solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on the basis of international law, including resolution of the United Nations Security Council and General Assembly, and the Arab Peace Initiative," it said.

The conversation was initiated by the Palestinian side.

The conflict between two major Palestinian political parties, Fatah and Hamas, broke out after the 2006 parliamentary elections, won by Hamas. Following the 2007 coup, Hamas seized power in the Gaza Strip, actually splitting the Sate of Palestine in two parts - the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and the Fatah-controlled West Bank.

Following a Hamas-Fatah reconciliation agreement of the spring 2014, the Palestinian Unity Government of Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah was sworn to office. The government was tasked to organize presidential and parliamentary polls on the Palestinian territories. The government however failed to do what it was supposed to because of never-stopping disagreements between the two movements and soon ceased to exist. The issue of intra-Palestinian reconciliation has not yet been resolved.

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