Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s opening remarks during talks with the ministerial committee on Gaza, Moscow, November 21, 2023

Colleagues, friends,

I am delighted to see you in Moscow and would like to welcome the delegation of the League of Arab States (LAS), the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), foreign ministers of member states, and the OIC Secretary-General.

I am aware that you formed this group following the LAS-OIC joint summit, which took place on November 11 in Riyadh. Your goal now is to mobilise as many members of the international community as possible to stop the bloodshed in Gaza, to ensure the resolution of humanitarian issues, and to create proper conditions for a lasting and sustainable settlement in accordance with the UN Security Council and the General Assembly resolutions.

I sincerely appreciate this initiative and I believe it is an important one. This is another step after the summit convened by the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, on October 21, and the summit in Riyadh on November 11 which I mentioned earlier. We share the assessments made during these forums. We have repeatedly stated our position. Immediately after the onset of the current acute phase of the conflict (the events of October 7), President Vladimir Putin held telephone conversations with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and several heads of Arab states. I remain in constant contact with my colleagues, including those present here.

I am here to reiterate that we condemn terrorism in all its forms without exception. It is important to combat terrorism in ways that do not take the form of collective punishment and do not grossly violate international humanitarian law.

Today's situation shows how catastrophic the consequences can be to go down a path that ignores international law. We are witnessing calamitous humanitarian consequences in Gaza. The volume of incoming humanitarian aid is clearly inadequate. UN agencies providing this assistance are sounding the alarm. The top priority today is to address urgent tasks such as stopping hostilities, resolving humanitarian issues, and releasing hostages. We are aware that our friends from Qatar are actively involved in this and remain in contact with the parties in order to initiate a process that will bring the long awaited resolution.

Importantly, in addition to addressing these urgent tasks, it is necessary not only to not lose sight of strategic issues, but also to start creating proper conditions for resolving them now. I am talking about preparations for relaunching the peace process on an internationally recognised basis as approved by the UN and within the framework of the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative which was put forward by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and supported by all members of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

The initiative envisions the creation of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, with its capital in East Jerusalem, which would coexist in peace and security with Israel and all other neighbours. Clearly, in order to be able to move towards this goal, alongside the efforts to address the acute humanitarian issues that I mentioned earlier, there is also a need to form a collective diplomatic mechanism. We are convinced that countries in the region, Arab and Islamic states, should play an important role in this mechanism.

The quartet of international mediators, which was, in fact, disbanded by the decision of the United States (they refused to work in this format), did not include representatives of the Arab and Islamic world. It consisted of Russia, the United States, the EU, and the UN. Long before the current events, we advocated for the quartet to work in full coordination with the Arab League. Our Western partners treated this idea with indifference. The UN did not show the necessary initiative on this issue. The quartet could not fulfil the functions assigned to it by the UN Security Council.

The external monitoring mechanism to coordinate the conditions for a lasting and sustainable settlement based on a two-state solution must be truly representative. It must fully take into account the obvious fact that the countries of the region understand better than others how to achieve a solution that will satisfy everyone for many years to come. I hope that today we will discuss these issues.

I express sincere gratitude to Saudi Arabia which hosted the joint LAS and OIC summit and to everyone in this audience for the initiative, which we consider timely.