Palestine hopes that Russia will support its political and diplomatic steps to counter an initiative by Israel and the United States on annexing the West Bank's territories, Diab al-Louh, Palestine's permanent representative to the League of Arab States (LAS) and the ambassador to Egypt, told Sputnik on Wednesday
CAIRO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th May, 2020) Palestine hopes that Russia will support its political and diplomatic steps to counter an initiative by Israel and the United States on annexing the West Bank's territories, Diab al-Louh, Palestine's permanent representative to the League of Arab States (LAS) and the ambassador to Egypt, told Sputnik on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Abbas announced an exit from all agreements, including security guarantees, with Israel and the US due to the Israeli government's intent to annex Palestinian lands, and once again pushed for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict via an international conference within the framework of international law.
"We look forward to Russia's position as a strategic ally of Palestine and hope that it will support political, legal and diplomatic measures to stop this aggressive US-Israeli plan against Palestinians. This initiative is aimed not only at annexing the Palestinian territories, but at replacing the population of these lands with settlers," al-Louh said.
According to the diplomat, the Council of Arab Ambassadors has held talks with representatives of the Russian Foreign Ministry on the matter.
"Undoubtedly, the implementation of a plan by Israel and the US administration over annexing the Palestinian lands will have a negative impact on the whole region," al-Louh pointed out.
Earlier in the day, Konstantin Kosachev, the head of the Russian upper house's International Affairs Committee, told Sputnik that Russia was ready to mediate the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
On April 30, the LAS equated Israel's plans to annex territories of the Jordan River's West Bank, including the Jordan Valley, with a war crime. The league urged the United States to stop supporting Israel.
Israel occupied the West Bunk during the Sixth-Day War in 1967. Since then, Palestine has been demanding the return of the seized territories to no avail.
With the backing of the United States, the annexation of the West Bank and the Jordan Valley was among the top declarations of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's campaign. His unity government partner, Benny Gantz, has supported the plan.
