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Senior Russian diplomat, UAE presidential advisor discuss Palestinian statehood

MOSCOW, December 7./TASS/. The Russian President’s Special Envoy for the Middle East and Africa Mikhail Bogdanov and Anwar Gargash, Advisor to the President of the United Arab Emirates, discussed the Middle East conflict at their meeting, emphasizing the importance of establishing a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

"While exchanging views on the unfolding military and political situation in the trouble spots of the Middle East, special attention was paid to the unprecedented escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, including the catastrophic situation in the Gaza Strip," the Russian Foreign Ministry reported on its website after the talks in Dubai.

They reaffirmed "the importance of joining efforts in the interests of immediately implementing international legal decisions providing for the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state within the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, coexisting in peace and security with Israel," the ministry said.

It added that Bogdanov, who is also Deputy Foreign Minister, and the presidential advisor of the UAE also focused on "tasks of the further onward development of Russian-Emirati friendly relations within the context of executing the agreements achieved during the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to the UAE on December 6."

They also "stated the commitment of the Russian and UAE foreign ministries to continue closely coordinating approaches in the interests of a political settlement of the crises in Yemen, Syria and Lebanon," the ministry summed up.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 200 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly. Hamas described its attack as a response to Israeli authorities’ aggressive actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria, as well as a ground operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.