MOSCOW. Jan 13 (Interfax) - Moscow is still ready to host direct negotiations between the leaders of Palestine and Israel, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
"We will do everything to help launch substantive negotiations between Israel and Palestine. We were ready to receive the leaders of Israel and Palestine in Moscow in September of last year. We are ready to do so now, as soon as both parties can confirm their readiness," Lavrov said in his opening remarks at negotiations with Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee Secretary-General Saeb Erekat.
The remarks were posted on the Russian Foreign Ministry's website.
"Although slogans and principles are important, we believe that the need to begin direct negotiations between Israel and Palestine is long overdue. These negotiations have been frozen for years, and we are concerned about that because the vacuum of substantive debates is being filled by extremists and, unfortunately, this has recently been proven by the terror attack in Jerusalem," he said.
Russian Ambassador to France Alexander Orlov will be representing Russia at the international ministerial conference on the Palestinian-Israeli settlement in Paris on January 15, he said.
"We appreciate another opportunity to exchange opinions on the situation in the Palestinian-Israeli settlement. You know our stance, which rests upon the decisions made over the multiple years over which the UN has been addressing this problem. The concrete UN decisions made by consensus are well known to everyone. They have lately been reiterated in a whole range of documents approved by the international community," Lavrov said.
"As I understand, the Paris conference to be attended by our Ambassador to France Orlov will be another attempt to reiterate these documents," the minister said.
In addition, Lavrov announced a future intra-Palestinian meeting in Moscow.
"No matter what scenario may take place, especially from the angle of the need for direct negotiations, we believe that the task of restoring Palestinian unity is particularly topical. We have repeatedly provided a venue in Moscow and in the vicinity of Moscow for many Palestinian movements, so that all units of the Palestine Liberalization Organization and those cooperating with them could gather, discuss their disagreements and agree on a single platform to ensure unity of all Palestinians and to promote direct negotiations in a more efficient way," he said.
"Another meeting of the kind will be held next week in Moscow, on the premises of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Oriental Studies. We will provide organizational support, while the Palestinians will determine its substantive component," the minister said.