Palestine would like Russia to convene a Middle East peace conference. Palestinian Ambassador to the Russian Federation Abdel Hafiz Nofal said this in an interview with the Izvestia newspaper published on Thursday.
"<...> President of the State of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas expressed the wish that it would be Russia that would convene an international peace conference, which would result in a new mechanism for the peaceful settlement of the Middle East conflict. But this does not mean that the conference will take place tomorrow. We have a desire to hold it, and there is a principled agreement of Russia, which has recognized the importance of such a format," the ambassador said, commenting on Russian President Vladimir Putin's meeting with Mahmoud Abbas in Sochi on November 23.
He emphasized that a new international mechanism of dialogue between Palestine and Israel should be established and it might be established with the support of the Quartet (Russia, US, UN and EU). The diplomat noted that the decision about the participants of the conference should be made by the UN by agreement with the parties.
According to him, the Palestinian leader was frank with Putin about the dialogue between Palestine and Israel and stated his full confidence in the Russian leadership.
"We believe that Moscow plays an important role in the peace process. We no longer want unilateral negotiations under US auspices. We need a new international mechanism to resolve the Middle East conflict. And we want Russia to play a bigger role in the peace process and to mediate in the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations. We are ready to conduct a dialogue with the Israelis in Moscow under Russian mediation," the ambassador added.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Maxim Grigoriev / TASS
Based on materials from TASS