MOSCOW, June 23. /TASS/. Russian Special Presidential Envoy to the Middle East and Africa Mikhail Bogdanov and Secretary General of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization Hussein al-Sheikh expressed their concern in a telephone call on Friday over escalation in the zone of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

"During the conversation, the current situation in the occupied Palestinian territories was discussed and concern was expressed about the escalation of tension in the zone of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict," the Russian Foreign Ministry reported.

It said that Moscow reiterated its fundamental position in support of a political settlement "on a well-known international legal basis, providing for the creation of the independent State of Palestine within the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, living in peace and security with Israel."