Abbas informs Lavrov about Hamas’ proposal

UNITED NATIONS, September 19. /TASS/. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has informed Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov about proposals advanced by the Hamas party. Lavrov and Abbas met on Tuesday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. "Some changes have taken place in the recent time. First of all, it concerns the Hamas party. It concerns Egypt’s efforts: our delegation was in Egypt and we accepted all that was proposed to us. As a matter of fact, what was proposed is something we did not even ask, i.e. cancellation of the administrative committee Hamas has set up and consent for participation in the government of national accord that was formed in 2003, for work in the Gaza Strip and for elections," Abbas said. "Earlier, I visited Turkey to discuss that matter. Then, the Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo, we did not know about that," he said, adding that the situation in the intra-Palestinian affairs was discussed with Qatar as well. "We have always stressed that focusing on the problems in Syria, Iraq, Libya and Yemen, we should not ignore the Palestinian problem," the Russian top diplomat said in turn. "We, along with the majority of the United Nations Security Council member nations, stand for the implementation of the Security Council resolution, for the implementation of the Arab Peace Initiative," Lavrov stressed. Read more