UNITED NATIONS, April 25. /TASS/. The issues of peaceful coexistence between Israel and Palestine must be resolved through direct negotiations between them, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stressed on Tuesday at a meeting with his Palestinian counterpart Riyad Al-Maliki at the UN headquarters.
The ministers' conversation was taking place against the backdrop of a UN Security Council meeting on the Palestinian-Israeli issue. Both Lavrov and Al-Maliki have already made their statements.
"Dear friends, we are pleased to have this opportunity to meet and discuss our cooperation on the occasion of this UN Security Council meeting on the Middle East issue, including the situation in Palestine," Lavrov said in his opening remarks.
"We have outlined our positions. I believe that the debate will confirm the position of a majority of the member countries - not only members of the Security Council, but also other members of the UN - in favor of the urgent resumption of a direct dialogue based on the decisions adopted by the UN Security Council and the General Assembly for a settlement based on the principle of a two-state solution, with all final status issues being subject to direct negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis," Lavrov said.
"And, of course, this is a good opportunity to discuss our bilateral relations, which we would like to promote. We have certain considerations in this regard," he added.
For his part, Al-Maliki pointed out that it was "very important for the Palestinian delegation to be here to present the situation and to demonstrate how bad the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory is."
He thanked Lavrov for chairing today's UNSC meeting.
"It is important to ensure that at a time when Israel is escalating the situation and its aggression against the Palestinians is reaching new highs the international community take action," Al-Maliki said.