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RUSSIA-PALESTINIANS-DIPLOMACY
Palestinian leader seeks Russia’s backing over Jerusalem
MOSCOW, Feb 12, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas visits
Russia on Monday in a bid to secure Russian President Vladimir Putin’s
support following Washington’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The Palestinian leader was set to visit Moscow two weeks after a visit by
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Abbas has refused any contact with US President Donald Trump’s
administration since Washington’s recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli
capital at the end of last year. Abbas is due to speak at the United Nations
Security Council on February 20.
Palestinians see the US decision, which broke with years of international
diplomacy, as a denial of their claim to East Jerusalem as the capital of an
eventual Palestinian state.
Israel took control of East Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War, annexed it
and later declared it the indivisible capital of Israel.
The US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, has accused Abbas of lacking the
courage needed to forge a peace deal with Israel.
Abbas in turn has rejected any mediation by Washington in the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict and has promised his people to work towards full
recognition of a Palestinian state by the United Nations.
Alexander Shumilin, a Middle East scholar at the Institute for US and
Canadian Studies, called Abbas’s visit “an attempt to cosy up to Russia, a
consistent ally, and to stop Netanyahu leading Moscow astray during an
improvement in Russia-Israeli ties”.
Netanyahu visited Russia on January 29 and along with Putin attended a
memorial ceremony at the Jewish museum in Moscow for the victims of Nazi
camps. He took the opportunity to accuse Iran of wanting to “destroy” the
Jewish state.
In turn, the Russian president likened antisemitism to “Russophobia” and
said Russia and Israel were “cooperating closely”, particularly against
“attempts to falsify history”. – Chances ‘close to zero’ –
For Shumilin, Monday’s visit “is a necessary political gesture for Abbas
but can do little in the practical sense”.
“It is also definitely not worth expecting a breakthrough from this visit,”
he added.
In 2016 Russia offered to host one-on-one talks without preconditions
between Abbas and Netanyahu but these never materialised.
In January, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov estimated that chances
of resuming direct talks between the two sides in the current situation were
“close to zero”.
Lavrov also said “we understand the emotions” Palestinians feel towards
Trump.
“We keep hearing in recent months that the US is about to publish some
‘major deal’ that… will satisfy everyone,” he said. But he added that
Russia “has not seen or heard of such a document or even any statement”.
With relations between Washington and Moscow at a record low for the post-
Cold War era, Abbas may be expecting that “Russia-US relations will get even
worse and then Russia could do something to spite the US”, Shumilin said.
On November 29, 2012, the United Nations designated Palestine as a non-
member observer state after a vote by the General Assembly.
That enabled the Palestinians to join international organisations and the
International Criminal Court, though they did not become a full UN member
state.
Palestinian statehood is recognised by more than 130 countries.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0905 hrs