Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has reiterated Moscow's position on a Middle East peace settlement. In a telephone conversation with Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa the minister described Israel's settlement building plans as unacceptable and at odds with the peace process. As it gathered for an extraordinary session the day before the Arab League said it would not hold talks with Israel in the wake of its decision to continue building settlements in East Jerusalem.
This tough response from the Arab world to Israel's decision to lift a moratorium on building settlements came a week after the Arab League approved the initiative by the international community to start mediated talks between Israel and the Palestinian Autonomy. The Israeli plans ran into harsh condemnation from world powers, the EU and international organizations and triggered particular anger in the US in the light of Vice-President Joe Biden's visit to the region early this week in the course of which he reached an agreement on the resumption of mediated Palestinian-Israeli talks.
Russia has urged the Israeli authorities to refrain from any unpopular steps. The Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko has this to say:
Caution is particularly important at a time when the international community is exerting every effort to establish a lasting and fair peace in the Middle East, and Palestinians and Israelis are striving to resume talks, even though with mediation. We cannot afford to miss a good chance for a settlement.
The Quartet of Middle East mediators is to gather in Moscow on March 19th to hammer out a plan of action for the Middle East. Participating in the discussion will be the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. Boris Dolgov, an expert with the Oriental Studies Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, comments:
"Moscow has the advantage of influencing both parties to the conflict. Russia has held talks with both Palestinian and Israeli officials. The leader of the Hamas political bureau Khaled Mashaal paid an official visit to Moscow. Even though Hamas plays a significant role in the Palestinian national movement, few countries maintain official contacts with it. Russia's effort to bridge a split within Palestinian society is contributing a lot to Palestinian-Israeli settlement".
In the meantime, tensions are running high in the Middle East. Last night Israel sealed off Palestinian territories in the West Bank and Israeli planes attacked the southern section of Gaza in response to the launch of a missile in the direction of Israel by Palestinian radical groups. Should the situation remain unchanged, no resumption of the peace process in the region will be possible in the near future.
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