Abbas touts idea of int’l conference in Moscow meeting with Putin
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on Thursday to discuss ways of relaunching peace efforts and plans to hold a conference on settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“We will support your efforts aimed at making more effective steps needed in order to reach constructive dialogue,” said Putin at the opening of the talks with Abbas.
The PA head’s visit to Moscow came soon after Abbas offered to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to rekindle peace efforts, and said he was working to stop Palestinian knife attacks and other street violence against Israelis. In Moscow, Abbas spoke of the need to hold an international conference on the settlement of Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“This issue is very important for us. You know that in the past a conference on Middle East peace process took place in Annapolis [in 2007] and according to its decisions there should have been a second conference on Middle East peace process in Moscow, but it did not happen. And now a question of holding international Middle East peace conference is on agenda,” said Abbas addressing Putin.
The idea of holding an international peace conference on Israeli-Palestinian settlement was put forward at the end of January by then-French foreign minister Laurent Fabius. It was the latest sign of Western frustration over the absence of movement toward a two-state solution since the collapse of US-brokered negotiations in 2014.
Abbas’s remarks made at talks with Putin appeared to be an effort by the Western-backed Palestinian president to turn the tables on Israel, which has cast him as responsible for the diplomatic deadlock and the surge of bloodshed.
Abbas’s administration and Israel coordinate security in the West Bank despite the stalling two years ago of US-sponsored negotiations on Palestinian statehood.
Netanyahu, who is coming to Moscow for talks with Putin on Thursday, said earlier he is open to renewing talks and that Abbas has been avoiding these while inciting violence with his rhetoric against Israel.
Abbas’s PA exercises limited self-rule in the West Bank under the 1993 interim peace accord. Israeli forces now freely operate in PA areas, something Abbas described as sapping his credibility at home. He said he was willing to take action against Palestinians whom Israeli intelligence deems a threat.