Russia slams US over 'destructive' policy, roots for Palestinian state

Russia denounced the violence that occurred on Monday in Israel and the Palestinian territories against both Jews and Palestinians, but also slammed the US for what it called a harmful strategy that disregarded the necessity for a Palestinian state to exist independently. More than two days after the militants surged across the barrier from Gaza on a deadly spree, Israeli troops were engaging Hamas gunmen on Monday. The largest mobilisation in Israeli history prompted the army to declare that it would shortly launch an offensive. The Kremlin demanded an end to the violence and expressed its “extreme concern” that it would lead to a wider confrontation in the Middle East. Russia, which has ties to Iran, Hamas, and Arab nations in addition to Israel, stated the West had ignored the need for an independent Palestinian state within 1967 borders. The West was shortsighted, according to Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, if it thought it could just denounce attacks against Israel and then expect for an Israeli victory without resolving the root of the instability, the Palestinian issue. “I cannot but fail to mention the destructive policy of the United States which thwarts collective efforts within the framework of the Quartet of international mediators,” Lavrov told reporters after talks in Moscow with Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit. The United States, Lavrov said, had sought to “monopolise” dialogue between Palestinians and Israelis and move away from the creation of a Palestinian state in favour to talks about easing the social-economic problems of Palestinians. The Palestinians want a state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as its capital - all territory captured by Israel in the 1967 war. The Quartet, set up in 2002, consists of the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and Russia. Its mandate was to help mediate peace and support Palestinians in preparation for eventual statehood. Israel said on Monday it had called up 300,000 reservists and warned residents of parts of Gaza to leave, signs it could be planning a ground assault to defeat Hamas. “This situation is potentially fraught with the danger of spillover, and therefore, of course, it is a subject of our special concern these days,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Aboul Gheit concurred with Lavrov during their discussions in Moscow that the violence needed to end but added that as long as the Palestinian issue was addressed, such incidents would occur. “We completely reject violence, but on both sides,” said Aboul Gheit, who served as Egypt’s foreign minister during the final seven years of Hosni Mubarak’s rule. “The Palestinian problem cannot be postponed any longer, and the U.N. decisions must be implemented.” The Kremlin claimed that the Russian embassy has no current knowledge of the number of Russian people who may have been maimed or killed in Israel. In order to learn if any Russians had been hurt in Israeli attacks on Gaza, he claimed that Russia was in contact with the Palestinians. (With agency inputs)