The deadlock in the Palestinian-Israeli settlement arose because the United States insists that there is no alternative to the proposed "deal of the century", Russian President's Special Representative for the Middle East and Africa, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told an open interview with first Deputy Director-General of TASS Mikhail Gusman.
"So far, we are seeing the deadlock in this direction, because our American partners, after the nomination of the so-called deal of the century by US President Donald Trump, i.e. purely American proposals for the settlement of the Palestinian - Israeli conflict, insist that this is an alternative basis for negotiations," he said. - Of course, this is unacceptable for either the Palestinians or the Arabs, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Arab League have already expressed their negative attitude on this issue. The position of the Arab-Muslim world is clear: this is an unfair approach that satisfies the interests of only one conflicting party."
According to the diplomat, as the US continues to impose the "deal of the century" as the only possible basis for negotiations, the question arises about the role of the Middle East "Quartet", which includes the Russian Federation, the European Union, and the UN participate in addition to the Americans. "After all, the Quartet developed a road map, implemented collective approaches, and organized contacts between representatives of the leadership of Palestine and Israel. In short, it worked quite actively, " he recalled.
"We support the approach announced recently by the UN Secretary-General: the basis for negotiations should be the international legal framework, which has long been agreed," Bogdanov stressed. - In the course of negotiations, the parties should themselves agree on how this framework should be implemented in practice, taking into account that some issues require mutual concessions, flexibility and understanding of each other's positions. A settlement can only be achieved on the basis of consensus and mutually acceptable solutions. The other way will lead to an even greater deadlock."
On Israel's recognition of the annexation of the Golan heights
According to Bogdanov, the leadership of Israel and the United States are delaying the decision to recognize the Golan heights as Israeli territory.
"I think that there are difficult discussions in the Israeli leadership and in the Israeli society about the appropriateness of certain decisions and their practical implementation. So we will have to see how the situation develops, because initially after the [US President Donald] Trump put forward his initiative in January: it was about the fact that from the first of July, decisions can be made and the implementation of unilateral steps to annex a number of territories in the West Bank. Now these decisions, as we understand, are somewhat delayed, because there are apparently doubts within the Israeli leadership and between the Israelis and the Americans," he said.
Bogdanov noted that unilateral steps by the Israeli government to annex the Palestinian territories could lead not only to increased tension in bilateral relations with Palestine, but also to instability in the region as a whole.
At the same time, the Deputy Foreign Minister stressed that Russia supported a constructive dialogue between Israel and Palestine. "The situation is really very difficult, and we are in contact with all the parties involved," Bogdanov added. - We are in favor of sitting down at the negotiating table and starting a constructive dialogue. The basis of the dialogue is, of course, the principles of international law and respect for each other's interests."
"We believe that the alternative approach is to create an independent Palestinian state that would live in peace and peaceful good - neighborliness and security with Israel," Bogdanov concluded.
The Middle East remains a "powder keg" for the modern world
Noting the conflict in the Middle East region, Bogdanov said that it remained a "powder keg" for the world community, and the events taking place there posed a threat to all international security.
When asked to comment on the fact that according to the expression attributed to the first German Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, "the Balkans are the powder keg of Europe", but at the same time, the Middle East has now become this very powder keg, but for the whole world, Bogdanov noted: "and Bismarck was right when he spoke about a powder keg on the European continent, and you are right that these are powder keg in the Middle East. Indeed, all these events pose a threat to international peace and security, so the entire international community is very closely monitoring the situation and trying to interfere in some way. Sometimes successful, sometimes less successful."
According to the Deputy Minister, this is why the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly are always very sensitive issues on the Middle East agenda, resolutions are adopted and discussions are held. "We participate in them very actively, of course, as a permanent member of the Security Council and as one of the world powers. In the Middle East there is a very dangerous situation, people are dying, infrastructure destroyed, millions of refugees. And I can't even single out one sore point in the Middle East, because we have to deal with a number of crises, conflict situations," he added, highlighting the crises in Syria, Libya, Yemen, the Palestinian - Israeli conflict and the situation in the Persian Gulf.
"I should just say that our line is consistent and principled. We stand for all these problems to be resolved by political and diplomatic methods, at the negotiating table. And all these conflicts, of course, have a certain international legal basis, and we call on all countries, including Western partners, to respect the principles of international law, the fundamental provisions of the UN Charter, which states non - interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states, respect for their sovereignty, territorial integrity and unity," the diplomat stressed.
The Deputy Foreign Minister pointed out that Russia applied this approach to all conflict situations in the Middle East. "There are a lot of them, and I find it difficult to say where they may break out at any moment, because they are already burning in many places in this important region for the whole world in terms of strategic interests, oil and transport arteries. So this region is really very important for the world community, and what is happening there occupies our attention and attracts a lot of attention from Moscow and our other international partners," Bogdanov concluded.
About radical Islamism and unresolved territorial problems
Territorial problems that persist in the Middle East, feed the ground for the spread of radicalism, according to the Deputy Foreign Minister.
According to Bogdanov, the basis of indoctrination among young people is a sense of injustice due to the fact that some problems affecting the interests of a wide range of people are not solved. "This creates a breeding ground for recruiting a fairly large number of people to the ranks of radical groups," the diplomat said. - There are more than a hundred thousand well-trained fighters in the ranks of the "Islamic state" (a terrorist group outlawed in the Russian Federation) today. This is a real army consisting of representatives of various nationalities who came from all over the world. And this suggests that there is a nutritional basis."
"The unresolved Palestinian problem causes many people to feel hopeless, and this generates radicalism and, eventually, results in terrorist actions," the Deputy Minister noted. - We have discussions with our Arab partners and openly tell them that if ISIS (a terrorist group outlawed in the Russian Federation) aims to create a Caliphate, then there is no place for Israel there. The logic, perhaps, is that if there is no possibility of creating a Palestinian state, then there will be no Israel."
Thus, based on the lack of a fair solution to this problem, a base is being created for people who no longer believe in it to join the ranks of extremist groups, Bogdanov concluded.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"