Moscow Ready to Provide Platform for Intra-Palestinian Talks

Moscow offered to provide a paltform for talks between the leaders of all Palestinian factions.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Moscow is ready to provide a platform for intra-Palestinian talks with the participation of all Palestinian factions, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said Wednesday.

"As for the prospects of organizing… a broad intra-Palestinian event, this depends on the readiness of Hamas and other Palestinian organizations. If and when such interest is expressed, we will be glad to offer Moscow as a platform for intra-Palestinian contacts," Bogdanov told RIA Novosti.

The deputy minister noted that in 2011 Palestinian delegations already took part in a meeting in Moscow.

"We could repeat this useful experience with the participation of the leaders of all Palestinian factions: Fatah, Hamas, the Popular and Democratic Fronts, and others, in the interest of a speedy restoration of Palestinian national consensus," he said.

On August 3, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held a meeting with Khaled Mashaal, the head of the Hamas political bureau. At the talks, Lavrov reaffirmed support for efforts to restore Palestinian unity based on the political platform of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

In June 2014, Hamas, which had de-facto control over the Gaza Strip, formed a unity government with the more moderate West Bank-based Palestinian Fatah party, the largest faction of the PLO, recognized by a wide majority of UN member states as the only legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.

Palestinians seek the recognition of their independent state on territories partially occupied by Israel after the 1967 Six-Day War, including the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The State of Palestine is recognized by 135 of the 193 UN member states, including Russia.