Moscow to Host Israeli-Palestinian Summit

Riyadh, MINA – Moscow will host a summit of Palestinian and Israeli representatives without preconditions, in hopes of reviving a stalled Middle East peace process, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday.

“On the basis of our continued contact with Israel, we agreed with the Palestinian leadership at a meeting organized by Russia to discuss the peace process without preconditions,” Lavrov told reporters in a joint press conference in Riyadh with Saudi partner Adel al-Jubeir, as quoted from Anadolu Agency (AA).

“Palestinian leadership is ready to the meeting, but Israel has not committed to a specific date,” he said.

Lavrov is currently visiting Saudi Arabia as part of a wider tour in the region. Before the tour ended on Thursday, this senior diplomat was also scheduled to visit Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

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Since the US government acknowledged Jerusalem as the capital of Israel last year, Ramallah rejected further mediation by Washington, so Moscow stressed its readiness to play a greater role in the Middle East peace process.

The US-sponsored negotiations failed in 2014 because Palestine refused to stop the construction of settlements in the occupied West Bank. (T/Sj/P2)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)