Moscow welcomes Fatah & Hamas unity pledge amid Israel’s West Bank annexation plans

Russia welcomed on Friday a pledge of unity between Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas against Israel’s West Bank annexation plans. “One of the key issues that need to be resolved for our common efforts to succeed is to restore the Palestinian unity,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

“We are satisfied with yesterday’s press conference of Fatah and Hamas representatives, as they announced the decision to jointly defend interests of the Palestinian state based on the Palestine Liberation Organization platform,” he noted.

Russia hopes that all Arab representatives will actively back this trend, the minister said. “We believe that international community efforts are as necessary as ever to lay down conditions for immediate resumption and reboot of direct Israeli-Palestinian talks under the auspices of the international mediator quartet with an active participation of Arab states,” Lavrov added.