Russia urged Israel on Wednesday to end settlement construction in occupied Palestinian territories and lift the blockade of the Gaza Strip to pave the way for the restart of peace talks.
"We urge a new start of talks between the Palestinian National Authority and Israel," Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told a Security Council session on Wednesday.
Talks between Israelis and Palestinians have stalled since Israel's late 2008 offensive on the Gaza Strip aimed at ending rocket fire from the Palestinian enclave. The conflict left 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead.
Settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, both occupied by Israel since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, has been the main obstacle to reviving the peace talks. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanjahu announced a freeze on construction late last year, but the Palestinians refuse to return to the negotiations until the construction is completely halted.
"To achieve this goal, the sides must fulfill their obligations under the Roadmap settlement plan. This includes, above all, Israeli settlement construction in the occupied Palestinian lands," Churkin said.
"Sustainable peace cannot be achieved without removing the blockade from Gaza," he said.
Churkin said Russia cannot announce a date for an international conference on the Middle East in Moscow due to the lack of progress in the peace process. But he said the Middle East Quartet meeting, which Russia is to host in February, will be a step toward the conference.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced plans to host a meeting of the Quartet of mediators - the UN, EU, U.S. and Russia - at a meeting with visiting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday.
UN, January 27 (RIA Novosti)
