MOSCOW, August 12. /TASS/. The liberation of the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories and the implementation of a decision on the formation of two sovereign states, namely of the Arab and Jewish States, will guarantee a long-standing peace in the Middle East, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told TASS.
"The guarantee to achieve stability and security in the Middle East is the implementation of a decision on the formation of two states, based on the international law, the withdrawal of Israel from the Palestinian territories, which were occupied since 1967, with the capital of East Jerusalem there," Abbas said in an interview with TASS.
The Palestinian leader said he believes that while being in power the current Israeli "extremist government does not believe in peace and positions itself above the international law and it drives the situation in the Middle East to the tenser situation."
As a proof of this, he continued, should be the Israeli military’s "massacres, genocide and ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and Jerusalem, as well as its assaults on neighboring countries."
"If Israel wants to live in safety and peace with its neighbors as a normal, peace-loving state, it should agree to the implementation of the two-state solution that is based on an international legal framework, including the Arab Peace Initiative," Abbas added.
Palestinian Ambassador to Russia Abdel Hafiz Nofal told TASS on Sunday that Abbas was set to pay an official visit to Russia on August 12-14 and meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.
Tensions flared up in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian movement Hamas staged a surprise attack on Israeli territory from Gaza, killing residents of Israeli border settlements and taking over 240 hostages, including women, children and the elderly.
Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City.
In response, Israel launched a military operation in the Palestinian enclave to destroy Hamas military and political wings and free all hostages.
Another round of escalation in the Middle East followed the violent death of Hamas Political Bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and the elimination of Hezbollah top military commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut. Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah held Israel responsible and asserted that the attacks will be met with retaliation.