Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called for an international conference, including all five permanent members of the UN Security Council, to resolve the Gaza crisis through the establishment of a Palestinian state. Such a conference should also include representatives of countries from the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Gulf Cooperation Council.
In his remarks to the Government Hour of Russia’s senate, the Federation Council, today, Lavrov replied to a question, in part: “The only way for this problem [escalation in the Gaza Strip] to be solved for good is to hold an international conference in which all five permanent members of the UN Security Council, necessarily representatives of the League of Arab States, representatives of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf must participate.”
He further stressed, “We have said this many times, including in the assessments given by Russian President Vladimir Putin. We heard what the UN Secretary-General A.Guterres as a guardian of the UN Charter. He said that the terrorist attack on October 7 this year was outrageous, could not be justified by anything, but it did not happen in a vacuum. By ‘vacuum’ he meant the existing solution, which is already 75 years old. According to him, the State of Palestine, an Arab State, was to be created next to the State of Israel. Nobody created it. Judging by the position taken by the West, they are not going to create a Palestinian state….
“For many years, in frank conversations with almost all my Israeli colleagues who have held this post, I have said, considering Israel’s uncompromising position on the Palestinian issue, that the unresolved problem of creating a Palestinian State is the single most significant factor fueling extremism in the entire Middle East….
“We have always (President Vladimir Putin stressed this in particular) paid great attention to ensuring Israel’s security. There are 2 million of our citizens there, and not former ones. They overwhelmingly retain their Russian citizenship. We have the closest ties. There is the Holy Land, the roots of the Orthodox religion and its shrines….
“I will emphasize once again. We will never agree to any agreements that will ‘undercut’ and infringe on Israel’s security. We are convinced that it can be ensured only in accordance with the decisions of the United Nations, which presuppose and require that [a united] and independent State of Palestine live and develop next to this state in security and good-neighborliness with each other and with all adjacent countries,” he concluded.
