Press release on Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s meeting with the Palestinian delegation led by Nabil Shaath

On December 19, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with the Palestinian delegation led by Nabil Shaath, the Palestinian President’s Advisor on Foreign Affairs and International Relations, member of the PLO Central Council and a Co-Chairman of the Russian-Palestinian Working Committee on the Middle East. The delegation also included member of the DFLP Political Bureau Qais Abdel Karim and member of the PLO Executive Committee and the Palestinian Democratic Union (FIDA) Saleh Raafat.

During the talks, the main attention went to developments in the Palestinian-Israeli settlement process, including in the context of the US decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, as well as the state of intra-Palestinian reconciliation.

Russia emphasised that all solutions to problems related to  the final status of the Palestinian territories, including the fate of Jerusalem, should be found in the course of  direct Palestinian-Israeli negotiations. Moscow confirmed its readiness to continue providing active assistance to efforts aimed at establishing Palestinian-Israeli political dialogue based on well-known international legal principles both in the bilateral format and within the framework of the Middle East Quartet of international intermediaries. The consolidation of Palestinians around the political platform of the PLO and the Arab Peace Initiative should advance this goal.

The participants in the meeting also discussed current aspects of further work to promote the traditionally friendly relations between Russia and Palestine.