Moscow: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said the US-proposed “deal of the century” on the Middle East peace process is not enough to guarantee a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders. He told this while addressing a three-day intra-Palestinian meeting which began on Monday in Moscow aimed at unifying 12 different Palestinian movements and organizations.
Lavrov pointed out that the US proposal does not include the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Alarabiya has quoted Lavrov as saying, “We, like most countries in the world, are fully committed to the criteria of resolving the Palestinian issue, which came through Security Council resolutions, the United Nations General Assembly and the Arab Peace Initiative.”
The Russian diplomat said that Moscow views Palestinian unity is an absolute priority for any progress in the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
Spearheaded by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and US envoy Jason Greenblatt, the ‘deal of the century’ plan is meant to revive stalled peace talks between Israel and Palestinian leaders, with the status of Jerusalem and the ongoing expansion of the illegal settlements in occupied territories of Palestine being the main obstacles to reaching a final deal.