Russia could provide platform for a potential meeting between Mahmoud Abbas and Benjamin Netanyahu, the Palestinian foreign minister said, voicing Palestine’s readiness to sit down for direct talks with Israel.
“Absolutely, [we are ready for direct talks] through a third party, of course,” Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said Tuesday, as quoted by RIA. “We don’t think a 15-minute meeting in Jerusalem would help us,” the minister went on, noting that “coming to Sochi or Moscow would be a good decision, if [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu is willing to.”
#Palestine: Abbas tells Putin he wants US peace role diluted https://t.co/S1M5cciiOc
— Middle East Monitor (@MiddleEastMnt) February 14, 2018
“The flight is no longer than three hours, and [Netanyahu] would enjoy hospitality of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and the Russian people,” al-Maliki said, calling on the Israeli side to consider the option, according to RIA.
As for the part US has in the peace process, al-Maliki reiterated Washington can no longer be the only mediator.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has arrived in Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the Israel-Palestine peace effort.https://t.co/EXWLFwZhYU pic.twitter.com/PgG1CXWJ4o
— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) February 12, 2018
However, the conflict settlement can’t go on entirely without US participation. Palestine “clearly stated that the US can no longer be the sole broker in the Israeli-Palestinian talks,” as Washington sides with Israel “against the Palestinian position.”
“We can’t ignore the US completely, that’s why we agreed for the US to participate,” the minister said.
#Abbas and #Putin Meet to Discuss Israel-Palestine ‘Peace Process’ https://t.co/u7Q8g3t6Pb via @PalestineChron pic.twitter.com/VYtcO2fgt0
— Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) February 14, 2018
Al-Maliki’s words echo Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’ remark, made during his delegation’s stay in Moscow. While the Palestinian side doesn’t reject the US joining the mediation attempts, it wants multilateral talks.
Meeting the Russian president on Monday, Abbas told Putin that Palestinians have ruled out cooperating with Washington as a sole mediator due to Donald Trump’s shift to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to the holy city.
How much money are we going to save? Time to get out of the UN and get the UN out of the USA.
United Nations Condemns United States Over Jerusalem Embassy
Move https://t.co/0Dg2Ts3wsW via @ConstitutionNat— Conrad (@conradsy) December 21, 2017
Following the US announcement, that drew backlash across the Arab world, the Palestinian president initially declared that Palestinians would not accept Washington in any role in the political process.
(RT, PC, Social Media)