Putin Urges Calm on the Israel-Palestine Conflict, Calls for Palestinian State
Oct. 12, 2023, (EIRNS)—During the Russian Energy Week yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin detailed developments in Russia’s oil and gas sector, but in the Q&A, made sharp comments on the history and complexities of the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“Originally, when the decision to create the State of Israel was made, there was at the same time a parallel decision to establish a second state. It was initially about the creation of two independent and sovereign states Israel and Palestine,” TASS quoted Putin as saying. “As we know, Israel was established indeed, whereas Palestine has never been founded as an independent and sovereign state,” Putin emphasized, saying that it was “due to a variety of circumstances.” He added that Israel has used military force to occupy Palestinian lands.
Putin said that the Palestinian problem has continued to fester for decades, and
“is very near to the heart of everyone who practices Islam.... This is where life has led; these are obvious things. And people view all this not only what is taking place now but what has occurred for decades as a manifestation of the injustice that has ramped up dramatically. Why? Because initially, when a decision was adopted on creating the state of Israel, a parallel decision was made on creating a second state.”
Clearly recognizing that there must be a calm and thoughtful approach to resolving this conflict, Putin said:
“We understand that the bitterness is immense on both sides, but regardless of its levels, every effort should be made to minimize or reduce to zero the losses among civilians.... We do not know whether the situation will calm down anytime soon, but every effort must be made to this end because expansion of the conflict zone could have drastic effects, including for the energy sector.”
President Putin pointed directly to the U.S. as instigators of this crisis.
“Resolution mechanisms exist, but the United States has neglected them over the past few years, choosing to regulate everything on its own. It did not use these mechanisms, instead relying on its efforts to meet the material needs of those living in the Palestinian territories.... You cannot solve the problem in its entirety without addressing fundamental political issues, the main one being the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state with its capital in East Jerusalem. However, this is exactly the bet that was made.”
He also blamed the Israeli settlements policy as part of the reason that led to the outbreak.
In an interview on the sidelines of the event, Putin further emphasized the failure of the U.S.’s attempts to manage the region. “The fact that this is a failure is now obvious,” Putin commented to TV channel Al-Ghad, whose anchor Amro Abdelhamid had moderated plenary panel, according to RT. The U.S. “practically moved away from previous international instruments to resolve this problem,” which Russia and others had been involved in, and “practically monopolized the settlement process,” Putin said.
At some point, the Palestinian Authority “had to make a number of quite serious statements and make it clear that it was not ready to agree to the ‘principles’ [the U.S.] proposed,” Putin added.
Overall, he emphasized that the issue is a “complex and very sensitive” one, and everyone needs to refrain from inflammatory statements and minimize casualties among civilians.
