Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday backed Russia's calls for an urgent meeting of the Quartet of Middle East peace mediators.
Abbas was speaking in a phone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
A statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry said Abbas "expressed gratitude to Russia's leadership" for their efforts to build a lasting peace in the Middle East and their "firm position" on 1967 boundaries.
Palestinians want the borders of their future state to follow pre-1967 lines, a desire which received a powerful boost last week when U.S. President Barack Obama said in a major speech to the State Department that any future Palestinian state must be based on the borders that existed before the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
"The borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states," he said.
The Middle East Quartet - which is made up of the United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia - expressed "strong support" for the plan last week.
Israel has rejected the proposal.
The Palestinians will seek UN recognition as an independent state in September at the annual meeting of the UN General Assembly.
The leaders of two main Palestinian factions, Fatah and Hamas, as well as of the People's and Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Palestinian People's Party, Al-Shaabare, are meeting with Lavrov later on Monday.
Fatah and Hamas signed a peace deal in Egypt's capital Cairo on May 4 to end their four-year rift.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the accord was a "tremendous blow to peace and a great victory for terrorism," and called on Abbas to choose peace with Israel rather than reconciliation with Hamas.
MOSCOW, May 23 (RIA Novosti)
