The message stresses that the “tragic developments on the West Bank of the Jordan River and in the Gaza Strip make it incumbent upon the international community to become actively involved to put an end to the Palestinian-Israeli confrontation, stabilise the situation and bring it back into the political sphere.
“I am convinced that the vicious circle of violence that claims the lives both of Palestinians and Israelis can only be broken by simultaneously addressing the problems of security, resuming political negotiations and restoring the social and economic infrastructure of the Palestinian territories. The negotiating process, which must be resumed as soon as possible, must be based on the immutable “land for peace” principles sealed by the Madrid Peace Conference, the UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, the provisions of the UN Security Council Resolution 1397 and the Saudi peace initiative approved by the Arab summit in Beirut.
“Russia will continue to work vigorously to help break the deadlock in the region and resume movement towards a comprehensive Arab-Israeli settlement. We intend to continue and strengthen constructive interaction within the “quartet” of international mediators – Russia, the US, the EU and the UN – as well as with other interested parties. We attach particular significance to close coordination with Egypt which plays an exceedingly important positive role in the search for a just and durable peace in the Middle East.
“Such peace, as we see it, means an end to the Israeli occupation of the Arab lands, the exercise of the inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people, including the creation of its own sovereign state, ensuring equal and reliable security for all the states and peoples in the region, both the Arabs and Israel.”