The international community should put pressure on Israel to resolve the Middle East conflict and prevent an "explosion" of tensions in the region, a Russian MP said on Monday.
"The question of creating an independent Palestinian state has been ripe for a long time," Semyon Bagdasarov, who is a member of the State Duma international affairs committee, said.
"The obstacle is the current stance of the Israeli leadership," he said, adding "in spite of contributing to the resolution of the issue, [it] took up a quite unconstructive position."
The expert, a member of A Just Russia party, said measures being taken against Israel are "insufficient".
"The international community has proved to be completely unable to put pressure on Israel - this is the crux," he said.
The issue of settlement construction in the West Bank, occupied by Israel since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, has been the main obstacle to reviving peace talks with the Palestinians.
Under the internationally agreed roadmap for Middle East peace, Israel is obliged to freeze construction and remove unauthorized outposts built since 2001 from the Palestinian territories.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced in late November that construction would be limited in the West Bank, but not in East Jerusalem, which is also under Israeli occupation and which the Palestinians claim to be the capital of an independent Palestinian state. Netanyahu also said construction would resume in the future.
The Palestinian National Authority has refused to return to the negotiating table until the construction is completely halted.
The expert suggested that the international community should gear efforts towards the recognition of Palestine as an independent state, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and put pressure on Israel to completely freeze settlement construction.
If Israel stands its ground, the UN should consider economic sanctions to be imposed on it, he said.
Bagdasarov also said a conflict between Israel and Palestine should be settled before 2020 in order to prevent an "explosion" in the Middle East.
"I believe that the whole Middle East is ready to explode. The Israeli leadership should take into consideration that it is not in their favor," he said.
MOSCOW, December 21 (RIA Novosti)
