Palestine's Membership in UN to Help Launch Negotiations With Israel - Nebenzia
UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) - Russia is convinced that Palestine's membership in the United Nations will help launch equal negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis, Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vassily Nebenzia told Sputnik.
"We are convinced that Palestine's membership in the UN would help launch an equal negotiation process between Palestinians and Israelis on a set of final status issues, the outcome of which would be the creation of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders with its capital in East Jerusalem, coexisting in peace and security with Israel in accordance with approved international legal decisions," Nebenzia said.
The Russian diplomat recalled that the US had earlier vetoed a resolution recommending that the General Assembly admit Palestine to the UN, threatening to do so again if the issue was reconsidered.
"The Americans believe that the issues of recognizing Palestine and its admission to the UN should be resolved in direct negotiations with Israel. At the same time, the US itself "torpedoed" them, imposing unilateral approaches, bypassing the universally recognized international legal basis with the internationally approved formula of "two states"," Nebenzia said.
Nevertheless, US' position "finds less and less understanding in the world, especially against the backdrop of the bloody events in Gaza," he said.
