Palestinian President Yasser Arafat called Russian President Vladimir Putin to ask for his support on Monday, and the Kremlin leader urged both Israelis and Palestinians not to use violence, according to Reuters.
"Putin called for coordinated international effort to return the Palestinian and Israeli sides to the table for talks," a Kremlin statement said. Arafat, in a message to Putin, conveyed "an extremely dangerous situation has developed as a result of Israel's aggression on Palestinian territories," a Palestinian spokesman in Moscow said.
The Palestinian Ambassador to Moscow, Khairi Al-Oridi, requested Moscow to "accelerate its efforts to take the Middle East situation out of its impasse."
Russia called for both sides to end the violence. Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said the Palestinian side should end all acts that danger Israel's security and people and put on trial those who participated in "terrorist activity."
The Israelis, on their part, should not try to destroy the Palestinian Authority and not rely solely on force to solve the crisis, Yakovenko said in a statement. (Albawaba.com)
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