He who establishes an independent Palestinian state deserves a Nobel Peace Prize, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on her Telegram Channel on Friday.
Zakharova’s comments were a response to an earlier statement made by US Deputy Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland. The latter had said on Thursday that rightwing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deserves the Nobel Prize if he convinces Russian President Vladimir Putin to withdraw from Ukraine.
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Nuland’s comments were made at a speech at a Carnegie-linked think tank, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “If Bibi Netanyahu can get Putin out of Ukraine, I will give him a Nobel Prize,” she reportedly said.
According to Nuland, Israel has been “distancing” its position from that of the Western anti-Russia alliance, and Tel Aviv considers itself to have a “special relationship” with Moscow.
“We say to them (meaning Israel): use it (the ‘special relationship’) to end this terrible and cruel war.”
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In response to Nuland’s announcements, Zakharova said that the US priority in ‘West Asia’ – referring to the region where Palestine and Israel are located – should be the establishment of a Palestinian state.
A Nobel Peace Prize is “better for the resolution of the Middle East conflict and the establishment of the Palestinian state,” she wrote.
Zakharova also remarked that she did not know that Nuland had the authority to make “decisions for the Nobel Committee.”
(The Palestine Chronicle)
