MOSCOW, October 30. /TASS/. Russia hopes that the bills on extending Israeli sovereignty to the West Bank of the Jordan River, previously approved by the Israeli Knesset, will not be finally ratified, otherwise, a new cycle of escalation in the Middle East will be unavoidable, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated during a briefing.

She recalled that on October 22, the Israeli Knesset approved two bills in a preliminary reading concerning the extension of Israeli sovereignty to the territory of the West Bank of the Jordan River. The diplomat noted that the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called this step a "deliberate political provocation by political opponents," and Netanyahu himself instructed members of the ruling coalition to suspend the advancement of the bills until further notice.

"We hope that the bills will not reach final approval," Zakharova stated. "Otherwise, it will be impossible to avoid a new dangerous escalation of tensions both in the occupied Palestinian territories and in the Middle East region as a whole."

She added that in the event of an escalation, "the international peacekeeping efforts, advanced with considerable difficulty and aimed at reducing confrontation, would be undermined and set back significantly."

In this regard, she emphasized that the Palestinian issue can only be resolved through political and diplomatic means. "And we see the main task today as ensuring sustainable peace in the region and creating the necessary conditions for establishing direct negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis on all final status issues," she stated. "Their logical outcome should be progress towards the creation of an independent, territorially contiguous Palestinian state, coexisting in peace and harmony with Israel."