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Palestine ready for ministerial meeting on Middle East in Moscow, says ambassador

He pointed out that although Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had initially put forward a proposal to convene an international conference, Palestine was prepared to start work within the Middle East Quartet of int'l mediators alongside the Arab nations and Israel, in accordance with the Russian initiative

MOSCOW, January 27. /TASS/. Palestine is ready to attend the ministerial meeting on the Middle East in Moscow, Palestinian Ambassador to Russia Abdel Hafiz Nofal told TASS on Wednesday, commenting on Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s proposal at the United Nations Security Council Open Debate.

"We are ready to participate at any level necessary to that," he said.

Nofal pointed out that although Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had initially put forward a proposal to convene an international conference, Palestine was prepared to start work within the Middle East Quartet of international mediators alongside the Arab nations and Israel, in accordance with the Russian initiative.

"We highly appreciate the approach of the Russian side," he continued. "Last week we received a special enjoy from President Abbas. He met [Foreign] Minister [Sergey] Lavrov and [Russian Presidential Special Envoy for the Middle East and Africa, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail] Bogdanov, we spoke about everything."

The diplomat pointed out that at the Open Debate Lavrov reconfirmed his proposal to hold a summit meeting between the leaders of Palestine and Israel in Moscow.

"Also we are ready to participate at any time in that," the ambassador stressed.

Speaking at the UN Security Council Open Debate on January 26, Lavrov put forward a proposal to hold a ministerial meeting in the spring or summer, attended by the Middle East Quartet (Russia, the United States, the United Nations and the European Union), Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates as well as Saudi Arabia as the author of the Arab Peace Initiative.

Israeli-Palestinian conflict

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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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