Palestine is open to holding talks with Israel in Moscow under Russia's mediation in the near future and has clearly consented to such a meeting three times, Palestinian Minister of National Economy Khaled al-Osaily said in an interview with Sputnik on Thursday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st November, 2019) Palestine is open to holding talks with Israel in Moscow under Russia's mediation in the near future and has clearly consented to such a meeting three times, Palestinian Minister of National Economy Khaled al-Osaily said in an interview with Sputnik on Thursday.On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov opined that the only way to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would be through direct negotiations. Russia has repeatedly suggested hosting the talks in its capital.
"Actually, we appreciate that [Moscow's proposal] and our president, Mahmoud Abbas, accepted three times to come to Russia, but unfortunately the one who objected is [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu," al-Osaily said, when asked whether Russia-mediated Israeli-Palestinian talks could be expected to take place in the near future.
The minister stressed that Palestine's stance was defined by its trust toward Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin.
"We accept it [Russia's offer to host talks]. We want to have it in the near future, to have such a meeting in Moscow under the auspices of President Putin," al-Osaily continued.
In 2016, Putin offered to organize direct talks in Moscow between Israel and Palestine without pre-conditions. Both parties rushed to agree, but the talks never took place. The proposal was then reiterated numerous times by Lavrov, who in April of this year stressed that Russia was consistently collaborating with the UN Security Council and other international actors with the aim of creating favorable conditions for reviving the direct Israeli-Palestinian dialogue.
