Russia is discussing with the parties to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the Middle East Quartet (Russia, US, UN and EU) the possibility of establishing direct contact between Israel and Palestine. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said this on the air of Radio Rossiya on Monday.
"We are doing such work with the parties, we are also doing such work with the members of the Quartet. The proposal to organize contact in Moscow is still valid, and the Russian side stated this at the UN Security Council meeting," Maria Zakharova said.
The Foreign Ministry spokeswoman also noted that Moscow, in cooperation with Cairo and other interested sides, will continue to assist the Palestinian internal political forces for "restoring national unity on the platform of the Palestine Liberation Organization".
A concerted UN Security Council response to the escalating conflict between Palestine and Israel is necessary to resolve it, the diplomat added.
"The [UN] Security Council meeting demonstrated that there is unanimity on the need for an immediate end to the acute phase of the conflict in order to end the bloodshed, the deaths, the suffering of civilians, the destruction of civilian infrastructure. And this collective call by the Security Council is extremely important for the realization of these goals," Zakharova said.
On May 16 the UN Security Council held an extraordinary high-level meeting on the Palestinian-Israeli settlement. Russia urged to create necessary conditions for restarting a peace dialogue between Palestine and Israel on the basis of the two-state principle as soon as possible.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Mikhail Tereshchenko / TASS
Based on materials from TASS