Medvedev reaffirms Palestinian state stand

AFP/Jericho, West Bank

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev stands with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during a welcoming ceremony before their meeting in Jericho yesterday

Russia’s Dmitry Medvedev reaffirmed yesterday Moscow’s support for an independent Palestinian state, and said there would be no peace progress without a move on settlements.

The Russian president’s remarks were made on his first-ever visit to the occupied territories where he held talks in the oasis town of Jericho with his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas.

The two men discussed ways to restart peace talks with Israel, with Medvedev saying it would only be possible through "compromise” while stressing there would be "no progress” without an Israeli decision on settlement building.

The trip was a rare Middle East visit for Medvedev, who arrived from Jordan accompanied by hundreds of Russian businessmen and was to return there yesterday evening ahead of talks today with Jordan’s King Abdullah.

A visit to Israel was postponed due to a strike by Israeli foreign ministry staff.

"We discussed the prospects of how dialogue may be resumed,” Medvedev said. "We have to move forward despite the remaining difficulties. This movement is possible only on the basis of compromise.”

Abbas said the two had discussed the impact of Israel’s settlement policy and its destructive effect on the chance for fresh talks.

"We discussed several issues and where the peace process stands because of the settlements and because of Israel’s actions on the ground,” he said.

The Russian leader agreed that it was impossible to ignore the impact of Israel’s settlement policy.

"It is obvious that without some sort of reasonable (Israeli) decision concerning their settlement activity, there will be no progress,” he said. "It is impossible to close your eyes to this fact.”

Medvedev also reiterated Russia’s support for an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, first voiced in 1988.

"The Russian position on the Palestinian issue hasn’t changed and remains the same,” Medvedev said.

"Russia stated its position ... in the last century, and we fully support the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to the establishment of an independent, united and viable state with East Jerusalem as its capital.”

The late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat first declared independence at a meeting in Algiers in November 1988, with the former Soviet Union quick to express support for it shortly afterwards.

"I’m sure that with the establishment of a Palestinian state, everyone will win—Palestinians and Israelis,” Medvedev said.

Over the past two months, six South American countries have recognised a Palestinian state inside the 1967 borders, and Abbas’s government in Ramallah is determined to petition the UN to recognise such a state in September.

Although the Russian leader warned against "unilateral steps ... that unsettle the region” he said it was crucial to resort to international law to resolve disputes standing in the way of peace.

"We must use the entire potential of international laws at our disposal, UN Security Council resolutions, decisions by regional organisations, so that we can move onto a new level at which this problem may be resolved,” he said.

Medvedev’s trip comes ahead of a meeting of top diplomats from the Middle East peace Quartet, comprising the Russia, the US, the UN and the European Union, who are to meet in Munich on February 5 to mull ways of giving fresh impetus to the peace process.

Should those talks achieve something concrete, Russia could press ahead with plans for an Israel-Palestinian peace conference in Moscow, Medvedev said.