Russian MFA Information and Press Department Commentary Regarding Official UN Security Council Meeting on Situation in Middle East and Meeting of Middle East Quartet of International Mediators

Important international events were held in New York on December 15-16, among which stood out the UN Security Council meeting at ministerial level on Middle East settlement and the preceding session of the Quartet of international mediators (the US, Russia, the EU and UN), along with its meeting with foreign ministers from Arab countries.

In the course of the Security Council meeting, convened at Russia's initiative, resolution 1850 was adopted on the basis of a Russian-US draft, which essentially codifies the negotiation process currently under way between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), and directly emphasizes its irreversibility. It is crucial that the document reaffirms the existing international legal base for a comprehensive Middle East settlement and endorses, in particular, the well-known peace initiative of the League of Arab States. The resolution lays down a sufficiently flexible scheme for restoring Palestinian unity, which is needed both from the viewpoint of imparting sustainability to the Palestinian-Israeli dialogue and in terms of ensuring the viability of future final accords within its framework.

The adoption of the resolution of the Security Council has again underlined the central role of this main body of the United Nations Organization in the maintenance of international peace and security and in conflict settlement. This document is supplemented by the detailed statement of the Middle East Quartet of mediators adopted the day before, which contains an objective appraisal of the current situation in the region, and recommendations for eliminating conflict points that could trigger a setback in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process (violence relapses, the Gaza blockade, Israeli settlement activities in the occupied territories, and the rift among Palestinians). In addition, the Quartet accentuated attention to the need to intensify Syrian-Israeli negotiations.

Both the resolution and the statement fix a position in favor of the convocation in Moscow in 2009 of an international conference on the Middle East.

Of course, we realize that the adoption of the resolution is not in itself a guarantee that the situation will develop exclusively in the right direction. Much will depend on whether the Israelis and Palestinians themselves will primarily succeed in creating and building on the necessary favorable prerequisites for successful movement forward.

For its part Russia will continue to make its contribution to collective efforts for ensuring a peaceful and stable development of the region. Only by acting together and on a generally recognized basis is it possible to achieve a truly just, lasting and comprehensive peace settlement. Together with the partners we will take all the necessary steps to ensure that the planned international meeting in Moscow becomes an important stage on this road and enables accelerating the achievement of final accords to solve the Middle East crisis.

December 17, 2008