Russia is seriously concerned about developments in the human rights situation in Israeli-occupied territories and calls on all sides to refrain from provocative actions. The Russian delegation stated this on Wednesday at the 52nd session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva.
"[Russia] is concerned about the negative dynamics of the human rights situation in the occupied territories," Olga Vorontsova, a representative of the Russian delegation, said in her speech at the session. She stressed that particular concern is caused by "continued escalation of violence victimizing civilians, including women and children, provocative violations of the status of holy sites in Jerusalem, plans for intensification of Israeli settlement construction, continued demolition of Palestinian-owned housing and decisions of Israeli leadership to legalize outposts in the Occupied Palestinian Territories."
"We call on all sides to refrain from provocative actions that could escalate violence, especially during religious holidays," the diplomat said. Russia proceeds from the premise that "the guarantee of long-term stabilization is the achievement of mutually acceptable agreements on all final status issues with the support of the universally recognized international legal basis for the Middle East settlement and the two-state formula," which Moscow has consistently supported, Vorontsova concluded.
On March 19, a five-party meeting was held in the Egyptian city of Sharm el-Sheikh with the participation of delegations from Israel and Palestine, as well as representatives of Egypt, Jordan and the US, to achieve a settlement guaranteeing peace in the region during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan (which began this year on March 23 and will end on April 21). According to the final statement, the parties agreed to an immediate cessation of unilateral measures for a period of three to six months and reaffirmed their commitment to the previous agreement. This entails Israel's commitment to suspend discussion of settlement expansion in the West Bank for the next four months and to halt the issuance of construction permits for up to six months.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: Imago/TASS
Based on materials from TASS