MOSCOW, July 25. /TASS/. The Russian State Duma at a plenary session has condemned the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, for speaking out against the establishment of a Palestinian state.
"The delegates of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation resolutely condemn the stance of the State of Israel’s Knesset, expressed in the July 18, 2024 Knesset declaration against the establishment of the state of Palestine. By groundlessly insisting that the very establishment of a Palestinian state will create a threat for Israel and its citizens, make the Israeli-Palestinian conflict unresolvable and destabilize the situation in the region, the Israeli parliament crudely violates the principles and norms of international law at the foundation of the Middle Eastern settlement, as well as multiple legally binding resolutions of the UN Security Council, which had unequivocally proclaimed the creation of two sovereign states, Israel and Palestine, on that ancient land, as a solution to the Palestinian issue," the Duma’s statement said.
Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when militants from the Gaza-based Palestinian radical group Hamas staged a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. In response, Israel has declared a state of war readiness; announced a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians; and began delivering air strikes on the enclave and certain parts of Lebanon and Syria, followed by a ground operation in the enclave. Clashes are underway in the West Bank as well.