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Russian, Israeli foreign ministers to discuss Palestinian-Israeli settlement

Moscow is seriously concerned over the deterioration of relations between Palestinians and Israelis, the Russian Foreign Ministry said, urging them not to go the way of escalation of tension

MOSCOW, January 26. /TASS/. The Russian and Israeli foreign ministers, Sergey Lavrov and Avigdor Lieberman, will meet in Moscow on Monday to discuss the situation in the Middle East, Russia-Israeli cooperation and Palestinian-Israeli settlement that will be one of the central issues on the agenda.

Relations between Palestinians and Israelis remained deadlocked last year. Though an agreement was reached in August with Egypt’s mediation on a ceasefire, the truce remains fragile.

Moscow is seriously concerned over the deterioration of relations between Palestinians and Israelis, the Russian Foreign Ministry said, urging them "not to go the way of escalation of tension, but to make steps toward each other that could form a basis for resumption of the political process.”

Russia believes it is important to use the potential of the Middle East Quartet of international mediators more actively, taking into consideration the Russian initiative to hold a ministerial meeting.

A Western diplomatic source told TASS earlier that a ministerial meeting of the Quartet could take place on the sidelines of the Munich conference on security, which will be held from February 6 to 8.

Lavrov and Lieberman will also discuss Russian-Israeli cooperation, including business partnership in the areas of energy, informational technology, space research, agriculture, transport and tourism.