Russia considers it impossible to advance the us "deal of the century" on the Middle East settlement, Deputy Foreign Minister and Special Presidential Representative for the Middle East and Africa Mikhail Bogdanov told RIA Novosti, commenting on the details of a recent conversation with Special Envoy of the White house Avi Berkowitz.
"He called me and began to argue that it is necessary to promote the "deal of the century". I told him it was impossible. Because you know perfectly well the position of the Palestinians and the position of the Arab League. And that we need to gather a Middle East Quartet to discuss the situation and see how to get out of it," the Russian diplomat said, in particular.
Bogdanov also commented on media reports about Russia's initiative to hold the US-Palestine summit in Geneva, calling them "complete nonsense".
"What is the summit? Geneva? This is complete nonsense, " he said, in particular.
"There was also written that, they say, along with (the White House special envoy for the Middle East settlement Avi - ed.) Berkowitz, spoke with some employees of the National Security Council," Bogdanov added.
Earlier, Axios reported that during a recent phone conversation, Bogdanov allegedly suggested that Berkowitz hold a "mini-summit" between the US and Palestine with representatives of the Middle East Quartet and a number of Arab states. It was noted that the meeting place was to be Geneva.
Earlier today, a senior source in the Russian Foreign Ministry also told RIA Novosti that no face-to-face summits on Middle Eastern issues, including between Russia and the United States, were planned.
Today, at the initiative of the Palestinian side, Mikhail Bogdanov had a telephone conversation with Ahmed Majdalani, Member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s Executive Committee and Secretary-General of the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front.
During the conversation, the issues of the Palestinian-Israeli settlement were also discussed in detail.
The Russian side reaffirmed its invariable position in favour of establishing an independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders with a capital in East Jerusalem under the well-known international legal framework, including the resolutions of the UN Security Council, the UN General Assembly and the Arab Peace Initiative. They also stated their readiness to continue assisting the Palestinians and the Israelis in their efforts to establish direct bilateral talks with international support, including the Middle East Quartet of Russia, the US, the EU and the UN.
On January 28, US President Donald Trump presented a plan for a peace settlement between Palestine and Israel, known as the "deal of the century". The document recognizes Jerusalem as the united and indivisible capital of Israel, opens up the possibility for Israel to annex the Palestinian territories in the West Bank and extend its sovereignty to the Jordan valley, and also proposes the creation of a demilitarized Palestinian state without control over its borders and airspace.
The plan proposes the village of Abu Dis in the Eastern suburbs of Jerusalem as the future capital of Palestine.
The majority of world leaders, as well as the EU and the Arab League, declared the document unacceptable.
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Photo: Sergey Bobylev / TASS