The Palestinian Ambassador to Moscow, Abdel Hafiz Nofal, said that his country appreciates the actions of the Russian Federation, which create the ground for the activation of the Middle East Quartet (Russia, the United States, the UN, the European Union) in order to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He said this in an interview with the Izvestia newspaper.

According to the diplomat, Palestine appreciated the talks between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Palestinian and Israeli counterparts, as well as the invitation to the Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyadh al-Maliki to visit Moscow.

“All this constitutes suitable ground for an attempt to activate the work of the Middle East Quartet in order to achieve a settlement of the conflict,” Nofal emphasized.

He also added that Palestine is confident in the Russian position and support in the context of "the creation of two states on the basis of UN resolutions, international law and the Arab Peace Initiative."

On January 31, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that the Russian Federation and Egypt were in favor of returning the representatives of Israel and Palestine to the negotiating table.

The minister explained that both sides are concerned about the "negative dynamics" of the development of the situation in the conflict zone and are in favor of "an early restart of the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations in the interests of resolving key final status issues and achieving a comprehensive settlement." The diplomat stressed that the settlement should take place on the basis of a generally recognized international legal framework.