Russia and U.S. Seek Cooperation on Israel-Palestine Peace

Feb. 16 , 2021 (EIRNS)—Despite the fact there appears to be zero cooperation on the part of the U.S. with Russia on Syria questions outside of deconfliction between their forces, the United States is interested in cooperating with Russia to seek a final peace agreement between Israel and Palestine, according to Russian Foreign Ministry Envoy for the Middle East Settlement Vladimir Safronkov, who met Feb. 15 with U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Israeli and Palestinian Affairs Hady Amr.  “The sides discussed prospects for cooperation between Moscow and Washington on the track of the Palestinian-Israeli settlement, including within the format of the Middle East Quartet of international mediators. The Russian side hailed the United States’ readiness to resume its full-fledged participation in the Quartet and spoke in favor of invigorating bilateral dialogue on the Middle East settlement problems,” the ministry said, reported TASS.  “In general, the sides stated mutual commitment to constructive cooperation in order to promote the peace process in the Middle East.”

Members of the Middle East Quartet of international mediators—Russia, the United States, the European Union, and the United Nations—met on Feb. 15 online.

“The Russian side stressed the importance of efforts to create conditions for the soonest resumption of the Quartet-mediated direct Palestinian-Israeli talks in the interests of settling fundamental issues of the final status on the basis of the internationally-recognized two-state solution envisaging peaceful co-existence of two states—Palestine and Israel. It was stressed that unilateral steps are inadmissible, whether it be instigating violence or expansion of settlement activities, including breaking Palestinian buildings on the West Bank,”

the ministry said. “Participants agreed to organize meetings in the Quartet format regularly.”

Earlier, on Jan. 26, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made statements at the United Nations Security Council, in his capacity of co-author of the Arab Peace Initiative, in which he suggested a ministerial meeting of the Quartet members, along with Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia, which could be held in the spring or summer 2021