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Russia supports Palestinian president’s idea of Middle East conference — diplomat

The Russian diplomat also confirmed Moscow’s readiness to help overcome the internal Palestinian divide

UNITED NATIONS, December 21. /TASS/. Russia supports the initiative of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to hold an international conference on the Palestinian issue, Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky has told the UN Security Council.

"We keep interacting with both Palestinians and Israelis, as well as international and regional stakeholders, i.a. in the framework of the international Quartet of intermediaries for the Middle East," he said on Tuesday. "One month after the visit of [Israeli] Prime Minister [Naftali] Bennet to Russia, [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin met in Sochi with [Palestinian President Mahmoud] Abbas on 23 November. As a matter of principle, we support the initiative of the Palestinian President to organize an international conference on the Palestinian question."

The Russian diplomat also confirmed Moscow’s readiness to help overcome the internal Palestinian divide.

"Our proposal to convene another unifying meeting in Moscow remains on the table - whenever the leading Palestinian forces and movements are ready to endorse shared approaches and envisage them in a corresponding document. We count on assistance of other interested parties, first of all of our friends from Egypt," Polyansky said.

In his words, Moscow will keep its Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation efforts in the format of the Middle East Quartet.

"Our initiatives aimed at enhancing the efficiency of this mediator mechanism are well known and remain on the table," the deputy Russian envoy said.

Addressing the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2020, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on the Quartet of international mediators to resume their efforts and organize a peace conference involving all the parties concerned.

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