MOSCOW, March 27. /TASS/. Russia wants all sides to come to a mutual understanding on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Russian President's Special Presidential Representative for the Middle East and Africa and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told TASS on Monday.
"I can't guess," he said, responding to a TASS question about whether escalation with Palestine was possible amid protests in Israel.
"I know that there is communication. Representatives of the Palestinian administration, the relevant Israeli services are meeting with the assistance of Egypt, Jordan, so of course we would like them to come to a mutual understanding on all issues," Bogdanov pointed out, "However, security issues, in my opinion, cannot be separated from the political situation and the comprehensive settlement of the conflict that has been going on for 70 years."
On Sunday, Israeli authorities announced a decision to annex more than 20 hectares of land in several villages east of the large Palestinian city of Qalqilya in the West Bank.
On March 19, a five-party meeting of delegations from Israel and Palestine, along with Egyptian, Jordanian and US representatives, was held in the Egyptian city of Sharm el-Sheikh. The aim of the meeting was to reach a settlement guaranteeing peace in the region during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan (which began this year on March 23 and will end on April 21). According to the final statement, the parties agreed to an immediate cessation of unilateral measures for a period of three to six months and reaffirmed their commitment to the previous agreement. This entails Israel's commitment to suspend discussion of expanding settlements in the West Bank for the next four months and halt the issuance of construction permits for up to six months.