Russia relays readiness to organize Netanyahu-Abbas meeting

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov relays Moscow’s willingness to organize a meeting between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during a phone call with PA Civil Affairs Minister Hussein al-Sheikh.

Bogdanov confirms Russia’s “support of the lawful rights of the Palestinian people for self-determination, including creation of its own independent state within the 1967 borders with the capital in Eastern Jerusalem that would live in peace and good neighborhood with Israel,” according to a Russian Foreign Ministry statement covered by the TASS Russian News Agency.

Earlier this week, Channel 13 reported that Russia is seeking to arrange a meeting in the coming weeks between US and Palestinian officials to help renew ties between Washington and Ramallah, which have frayed during US President Donald Trump’s presidency.

Citing unnamed Western diplomats, Channel 13 news reported the planned meeting in Geneva is also aimed at preventing an escalation of violence in the West Bank and allowing the Palestinian Authority to propose changes to Trump’s Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, which it has rejected out of hand.

The European Union and United Nations were also part of the Russian effort, viewing it as an opportunity to jump-start peace talks and halt Netanyahu’s vow to annex parts of the West Bank that would become part of Israel under the US plan, the report said.

“The only way to stop annexation is to renew contact between the Palestinians and the US government,” a Western diplomat was quoted saying.