While there appears to be zero cooperation between the US and Russia on the Syira questions outside of deconfliction, the US is interested in cooperating with Russia in the context of the Quartet of Middle East mediators for seeking a final peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. This is according statements by the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Envoy for the Middle East Settlement, Vladimir Safronkov, following his meeting with US 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.
“In general, the sides stated mutual commitment to constructive cooperation in order to promote the peace process in the Middle East,” it noted.
Members of the Middle East Quartet of international mediators (Russia, the United States, the European Union, and the United Nations) held an online meeting Monday.
“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.”
This follows statements at the United Nations Security Council on January 26 by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as the co-author of the Arab Peace Initiative, suggesting a ministerial meeting of the Quartet members, as well as Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia, which could be held in the spring or summer 2021.
