MOSCOW, September 26 (RIA Novosti) - A senior Russian parliamentarian told journalists Monday that Palestine was responsible for the difficulties related to the Middle East settlement. Mikhail Margelov, head of the foreign affairs committee of the Federation Council (Russia's upper house of parliament), said the Palestinian Authority "was not flexible enough to compromise and was not ready to contribute to the progress of the Middle East settlement."
"Since Israel is pursuing its obligations under the road map for peace by transferring Gaza Strip territories to Palestinian autonomy, reciprocal steps are necessary," he added.
The Palestinian leadership "is not only demanding that Israel take unilateral steps, but, yielding to provocations, is making aggressive moves toward [Israel]," Margelov said.
"For the moment, I am seeing only what [Ariel] Sharon's government is doing, and I see nothing being done by [Mahmoud] Abbas' government. Establishing a state within temporary borders does not suit [the Palestinian Authority] and neither does an international border in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian leadership has failed to control militants and prevent the strafing of Israeli territory," the parliamentarian said.
He said when taking Middle East developments into account, it was hard to blame Israel for conducting military operations. "Undoubtedly, aggravation of the conflict is pushing negotiations back, even to the era of Yasser Arafat. But in this situation, settling the conflict depends much more on Palestine than on Israel," Margelov said.
