The Kremlin announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a round of talks on Tuesday with his Palestinian counterpart, Mahmoud Abbas, who is on an official visit to Moscow.
The Russian presidency said “the unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip” and situation in the Middle East would top the agenda of the meeting.
Abbas has announced his intention to discuss arrangements for the situation in Gaza, and the Palestinian Authority’s willingness to assume its responsibilities in the enclave, in addition to the prospects for launching a Palestinian-Israeli dialogue and preparations for setting a practical path to implement the proposal of an international conference on the Middle East.
“It is expected that an exchange of views will be held on the situation in the Middle East in light of the current aggravation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip,” the Kremlin said in a post on Telegram.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said that the Palestinian President’s visit to Russia is “extremely important” for coordinating positions on ways to resolve the conflict in the Middle East.
“This will be an extremely important conversation that we need to have together, because we need to work out some sort of stable joint approach regarding future steps on how to proceed in the course of achieving peace and security in the Middle East based on the norms of justice, approved by the international community,” he stated.
Abbas, for his part, told TASS news agency that Palestine is prepared to hold an international peace conference during which all aspects of the final status of the Palestinian issue will be resolved. He explained that the strategic solution starts with giving the Palestinian people their right to freedom and independence.
“The guarantee to achieve stability and security in the Middle East is the implementation of a decision on the formation of two states, based on the international law, the withdrawal of Israel from the Palestinian territories, which have been occupied since 1967, with the capital of East Jerusalem there," Abbas said in his interview with TASS.
Abbas stressed that large-scale reconstruction requires the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, and the implementation of a political solution based on international law to achieve comprehensive peace and security.
Emphasizing the need to stop all unilateral Israeli hostilities in the West Bank and Jerusalem, Abbas called for settling of all aspects of the final status during the international peace conference, in addition to achieving the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces within the agreed upon timeframe, and implementing the general regional security mechanism.
