Russian Federation to Continue Talks on Israeli-Palestinian Peace Meeting

On Tuesday, Abbas’s office criticized Netanyahu’s request from Russia to postpone a three-way meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Russian President Vladimir Putin, which was scheduled in Moscow next week.

Last week, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi said that Putin is willing to host Israeli and Palestinian leaders for direct peace talks, according to the Egyptian state-run Ahram newspaper.

Abbas has refused to engage in talks, however, until Israel ceases all building over the Green Line, including in Jerusalem, and releases the last group of Palestinian prisoners whose release was part of the 2014 talks between Israel and the PA.

Abbas’s office said in an official statement that Netanyahu’s request to postpone the meeting “assures that he (Netanyahu) is evading from any global initiative to rescue the stalled peace process”.

I will meet there with Israel’s friend, and my personal friend, Prime Minister Mark Rutte, with members of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Dutch parliament and with King Willem-Alexander.

“I was supposed to go directly from here to Moscow to meet with Mr. Netanyahu”.

Palestinian officials accused Netanyahu of using the proposed Moscow talks to undermine a similar French initiative.

“We continue to maintain contacts and to consult with both parties to reach an agreement on the form, content and date of the meeting”, Bogdanov said.

Kuzu, a lawmaker and co-founder of the pro-immigrant Denk party, had criticized Netanyahu’s visit via his social media account.

With his eye on shifting big-power influence in the Middle East, Mr Netanyahu has visited Russian Federation for talks with Mr Putin three times in the past year, and the two also speak on occasion by phone to discuss regional issues. The Russian military has sent forces to Syria in recent months to back Syrian President Bashar Assad in his battle against various rebel groups.

But Netanyahu publicly used the same words he has been using for the past few years regarding any peace talks with the Palestinians.