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Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Palestine ready for talks with Israel only under Middle East Quartet mediation — Abbas

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Palestine "will not accept Washington as the only mediator in the Middle Eastern peace process"

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas EPA-EFE/ALAA BADARNEH

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas

© EPA-EFE/ALAA BADARNEH

CAIRO, January 28. /TASS/. Palestine will hold talks with Israel only with the "quartet" of international mediators (Russia, the United States, the United Nations and the European Union), Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told national television on Tuesday.

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Russian lawmaker says it will be 'common success' if sides start talks on Trump's plan

"We accept negotiations with Israel under the auspices of the quartet," Abbas said. "We adhere to negotiations on the basis of international legitimacy, and will not accept Washington as the only mediator in the Middle Eastern peace process," he added.

Abbas noted that the only way toward peace is to create the Palestinian state with the borders from 1967. He also stressed that Palestine rejects the plan for Middle Eastern settlement announced on Tuesday by US President Donald Trump together with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Earlier on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump announced the "deal of the century" — a plan for Middle Eastern settlement on the basis of the two-state solution. Special attention is focused on the status of Jerusalem, border issues, security guarantees, a free trade zone, prisoners and refugees, and the rules for further negotiations.

“This Vision would achieve mutual recognition of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people and Palestine as the nation-state of the Palestinian people — each with equal civil rights for all its citizens. The plan designates defensible borders for the State of Israel and does not ask Israel to compromise on the safety of its people, affording them overriding security responsibility for land west of the Jordon River. For Palestinians, the Vision delivers significant territorial expansion, allocating land roughly comparable in size to the West Bank and Gaza for establishing a Palestinian State. Transportation links would allow efficient movement between Gaza and the West Bank, as well as throughout Palestine. The plan does not call for uprooting any people, Arab or Jew, from their homes,” the White House said. However Jerusalem, according to Trump, “will remain the sovereign capital of the State of Israel, and it should remain an undivided city.”

As a condition for the peace process, Trump cited the Palestinian authorities’ refusal from supporting the Hamas radical movement operating in Gaza and from methods of armed confrontation. The plan suggests more than 50 billion US dollars be facilitated in new investments over ten years as support to the settlement efforts.

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FACTBOX: Collective Security Treaty Organization

The Collective Security Treaty came into force on April 20, 1994 to herald the emergence what would eventually become the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The six member-countries are Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan

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The man set himself on fire

Russia knows French military instructors working in Ukraine — Lavrov

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