Talks only way to resolve Israeli-Palestinian conflict - Russian speaker

JERUSALEM, February 3. /TASS/. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict can be resolved only by negotiations, the speaker of the Russian Federation Council, Valentina Matviyenko, said on Wednesday, following the talks with her Israeli counterpart, Knesset speaker Yuli-Yoel Edelstein. "Russia has always insisted that there is no other way to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict except peaceful political negotiations," Matviyenko said, adding that Russia is deeply concerned with "recent escalation of the relations, actual freezing of negotiations process." "Russia will be making efforts to find a mutually acceptable way to resume the dialogue in the bilateral format, as well as in the framework of the "quartet," she said. Edelstein said that "Israel has no preliminary conditions for the resumption of negotiations". "The Knesset will accept with enthusiasm anything done by the Federation Council and Russian authorities to improve cooperation with parliaments of neighboring Arabic states," he said. "We are the speakers, we are not authorized to hold peace negotiations, but we can improve cooperation," he added. Read more