MOSCOW, June 9 (RIA Novosti) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday he backed a proposal to hold a referendum on establishing a sovereign Palestinian state.
Russia is part of an international "quartet" leading efforts to resolve a long-running conflict between Israel and the Palestinian territories.
"We hope the Palestinians will make a clear choice, and that the referendum will bring nearer the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state," Lavrov said.
He said Russia supported efforts for national accord among all Palestinian groups.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been reported to be planning a referendum for July 31 on a document drawn up by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails that effectively accepts a settlement with Israel for the two states to exist side by side based on 1967 borders.
He said he would call the poll unless Hamas, a radical movement that won Palestinian parliamentary elections in January, acknowledged Israel's right to exist and launched talks aimed at finding a solution.
But Hamas vehemently opposed the referendum as "illegal", saying that local laws did not permit holding referendums on Palestinian law.
