KUWAIT CITY (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th March, 2019) Moscow hopes that the United States will take into account the opinion of the Arab world in preparing its "deal of the century" for the Israeli-Palestinian settlement, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday.
"We would also like to hear more details about this deal, because the information that leaks out in the form of rumors and speculations is very concerning. If the information we hear from our friends, who have heard something from the United States, is true, then we are talking about thwarting everything that was done to lay the foundations for a Palestinian-Israeli settlement, for creation of the Palestinian state that would have territorial integrity, sovereignty and would live side by side in safety with Israel and other neighbors," Lavrov said at a press conference after a meeting with Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Sabah.
According to the minister, Russia is also concerned that the Arab peace initiative, which was proposed by Saudi Arabia and supported by all members of the Arab League, and which assumed the normalization of relations between the Arab world and the state of Israel, is under attack.
"I hope those representatives of the United States who are preparing this initiative are getting the signals that regional states, members of the Security Council and UN members in general, are sending to them," Lavrov said.
US President Donald Trump has stated on numerous occasions that his administration has been preparing a so-called deal of the century for Israeli-Palestinian settlement. However, the details of the plan remained unclear. In December, Lavrov noted that "no one has seen this deal yet." In January, Israeli broadcaster Reshet 13 reported that Trump's plan envisaged the creation of a Palestinian state covering 90 percent of the West Bank, as well as the division of Jerusalem.
At the same time, Palestinians rejected Washington's involvement in the settlement process after Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moved the US embassy there despite UN recommendations to refrain from establishing diplomatic missions in the city until its legal status was settled.
Last week, Jared Kushner, Trump's senior adviser, paid visits to Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates in order to discuss Washington's plan for the settlement of the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Within the framework of the settlement process with Israel, the Palestinians demand that the future borders between the two sovereign states pass along lines that existed before the 1967 Six-Day War, with the possible exchange of territories. They hope to create their own state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, with capital in East Jerusalem.
Israel refuses to return to the 1967 borders, and to share Jerusalem, declaring the city its eternal and indivisible capital.
