PA President Abbas called the meeting with the client of the criminal court in The Hague Putin "honest and open" - "We are with you. And so, we hope, it will always be" - NAnews

🌍 This article is also available in RU , UK

5 min read

Putin escorted Mahmoud Abbas to his car, which was filmed and published on the Kremlin's Telegram channel.

During the meeting, Putin stated:

.......

“Everyone knows that today, unfortunately, Russia must defend its interests, protect its people with weapons in hand, but what is happening in the Middle East, what is happening in Palestine, certainly does not go unnoticed.”

On August 12, 2024, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas visited Putin again, his second visit this summer after a three-year hiatus. The official purpose of the visit was to discuss

“current issues of further development of bilateral cooperation”

and exchange

“opinions on the situation in the Middle East.”

Abbas stressed the unacceptability of the policy of “forced displacement of Palestinians from their territories”:

“We (the Palestinian authorities) do not accept the continuation of the (Israeli) policy of forced displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, from the West Bank (the Jordan River), from Jerusalem – this strategy has already been implemented many times in the last century: for example, in 1948 or in 1967.”

He also added:

“We discussed our vision of the development of events in the near future and what any action in this difficult time could lead to. We also, of course, discussed bilateral relations, because we have very long-standing strategic relations with Russia.”

Abbas noted the importance of interaction with Russia:

“Therefore, we discussed bilateral relations between Russia and Palestine, which we always support both in personal meetings and in telephone conversations, and discussed the prospects for their development.”

The issue of Palestine's participation in BRICS was also raised:

“We also discussed and touched upon the topic of BRICS. And a verbal agreement was reached that Palestine would be invited as part of the “outreach.”

According to Abbas:

“Perhaps there will be some format of the meeting that will be dedicated exclusively to Palestine, so that all countries can express their opinions on the events that are happening there. And this is extremely relevant, given that all the countries there (in BRICS) are friendly to Palestine.”

Abbas expressed his belief that:

.......

“The United Nations has failed to resolve the Palestinian issue due to pressure from the United States.”

He also declared his support for Russia:

“Mr. President, it is always a great joy for me to communicate with you, to consult with you. We believe in you, we trust you, we feel your support. We, for our part, are also with you. And so, we hope, it will always be.”

Abbas recalled the long-standing ties between the peoples:

“All these decades we have felt the support and the fact that Russia – both at the government level and at the people’s level – stands next to the Palestinians.”

Following the meeting with Putin, Abbas noted:

“The meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin was honest and open, and the Gaza Strip and US actions were discussed, among other things.”

He described the meeting in detail:

“We had two meetings. The first was an extended one, part of which was in front of the media, and the second part was one-on-one, where we communicated in person. At the second meeting, we openly discussed all the topics that concern both Russia and Palestine.”

Particular attention was paid to the situation in the Gaza Strip:

“Of course, we talked about the tragic situation in the Gaza Strip, which resulted in 40,000 people being killed and almost 100,000 injured, and which resulted in the destruction of more than 70% of the infrastructure and buildings in the Gaza Strip.”

He also noted the role of the United States and Hamas in the development of the conflict:

“I said frankly and openly that both the Palestinians and the Arabs do not agree with the official US position.”
“On October 7, 2023, despite the goals that the militants had, it turned out that Hamas “gave Israel a pretext to launch such a large-scale operation and to kill so many people, injure so many people, destroy so many buildings and infrastructure.”
“It also provided a pretext for Israel to continue the aggression, the military actions that have been going on in parallel on the West Bank of the Jordan River all this time.”

Regarding the situation with Israel, Ukraine and the actions of Russia and the PA

The actions of Russia and the PA in the context of their relations with Israel and Ukraine raise serious concerns and can be seen as destabilizing factors in global politics.

Russiaon the one hand, actively supports the PA, using it as a tool to strengthen its influence in the Middle East, as well as to create additional problems for Israel, one of the West’s key allies. Russia’s support for the Palestinian position, especially in the context of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, can be seen as an attempt to distract the attention of the international community from its actions in Ukraine, where Russia is waging a war, violating the territorial integrity of a sovereign state.

Palestinein turn, continues to use confrontational rhetoric and reject any compromise with Israel, maintaining a negative agenda regarding the state of Israel. Mahmoud Abbas' meetings with Vladimir Putin and his open support for Russia can be interpreted as an attempt to strengthen his position by involving Russia in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. This only worsens the situation and can lead to an even greater escalation of violence.

These actions by Russia and Palestine have a negative impact on the peace processes in the Middle East and threaten the security of Israel. For Ukraine, the alliance with Israel remains strategically important, especially against the backdrop of the war with Russia. In this situation, Russia's support for Palestine only complicates diplomatic relations and creates new threats for both Israel and Ukraine.

.......