26/7 Tass 347
UNITED NATIONS, July 26 (Itar-Tass) —— The Israelis and the Palestinians must avoid steps, which predetermine the outcome of the peace process, abstain from acts of violence, especially that against civilians, and display their readiness for compromises in order to overcome an impasse at the negotiations, Russian First Deputy Representative to the United Nations Alexander Pankin said at an open meeting of the UN Security Council on the Middle East.
“The end to Israeli construction projects, primarily, in Jerusalem, would have a key significance,” he noted.
In the opinion of Moscow, the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations “must resume on the acknowledged international legal basis, including the UN Security Council resolutions, the Madrid Principles and the road map,” Pankin said. He warned that any attempts to shatter “this foundation will not help start the constructive dialog.”
The diplomat singled out the Arab Peace Initiative. “Bearing in mind the role played by the League of Arab States and its committee promoting the Peace Initiative in the Middle East process, we call for close coordination between the Quartet and that regional organization,” he said. “That is how we see the collective and integral international approach to the solution of the key problem of the Middle East.”
“The fulfillment of the unalienable right of the Palestinian people to the establishment of their state – an independent, territorially integral and viable country, with the capital in East Jerusalem, which will safely and peacefully co-exist with Israel within the borders 1967 and with territorial swaps, must be the final goal of the negotiations,” he said.
“In this connection, Russia views topical as never before the mediating role of the Middle East Quartet in the search for an acceptable formula of the resumption of the negotiations and definition of the settlement parameters through the dialog between interested sides,” Pankin said.