Moscow believes that the reopening of the American Consulate General in Jerusalem is of symbolic importance, and only a comprehensive and sustainable settlement of the Palestinian problem on a universally recognized international legal basis will contribute to real stabilization in East Jerusalem. This was said in a commentary by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova distributed on Wednesday.
"The establishment of stability in East Jerusalem, as well as in the Palestinian-Israeli direction as a whole, will be facilitated by a comprehensive and sustainable settlement of the Palestinian problem on a universally recognized international legal basis," the document said. - "As for Washington's own plans to reopen the American Consulate General in Jerusalem, the move appears to be in line with the line of the current Biden administration to correct the course of its predecessor in the Middle East settlement. We consider this gesture to have a symbolic meaning".
The diplomat explained that the decision to re-establish the official US representation, "which used to maintain contacts with the leadership of the Palestinian National Authority", would hardly have a significant influence on the prospects for a comprehensive peace settlement in the Middle East in the absence of a direct negotiation process between the parties to the conflict. Only "the launching of direct Palestinian-Israeli negotiations to resolve all fundamental final status issues" can be the key to long-term stabilization in the conflict zone, the spokeswoman believes.
"However, as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview with the Palestinian publication Al-Ayyam, the US considers it premature to talk about restarting the Palestinian-Israeli dialogue for now," Zakharova recalled. - "By the way, he also noted that the specific dates for resuming the work of the American Consulate General in East Jerusalem have not been determined yet".
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry
Based on materials from TASS