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Russia calls for 'maximum restraint' as Israel-Palestine tensions escalate

January 29, 2023 at 12:33 pm

People, holding banners, gather to protest after performing Friday prayer in Gaza City, Gaza after Israeli Forces killed 9 Palestinians in the raid on Jenin Refugee Camp in West Bank on January 27, 2023 [Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency]

Russia on Saturday voiced its “deep concern” over spiraling Israeli-Palestinian violence, urging both sides to exercise “maximum restraint” to avoid further escalation, reports Anadolu Agency.

Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank that left at least nine Palestinians dead and 16 injured led to an attack on settlers in an illegal settlement in East Jerusalem the following day. These events, the Russian Foreign Ministry said, have showed “the need for an urgent resumption of a constructive Palestinian-Israeli dialogue.”

“An end to the cyclical violence can be achieved only within the framework of a negotiation process based on the principles of international law, the result of which should be the creation of an independent Palestinian State within the borders of 1967, living in peace and security with Israel,” read the statement.

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Russia, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council and the Middle East Quartet – along with the UN, EU, and US – remains ready to make a significant contribution to efforts for a comprehensive settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the statement said.

“We consider attempts to artificially block the joint work of the Quartet and usurp the ‘external support’ of the parties’ contacts contrary to the fundamental interests of the two peoples,” the ministry added.