Opening remarks: Vladimir Putin with President of the State of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas
(Note: Please understand, Russia has not joined the Gaza Peace Board. They have allocated money, 1 Billion, as support for Palestinians from the frozen Russian Funds. Joining the peace board is not allocation of funds. It is signing on a dotted line. Many people are getting this wrong and reporting this wrong. ).
💬 Vladimir Putin: Relations between Russia and Palestine have deep roots and are distinguished by their special nature and quality. Back in 1988, the Soviet Union recognized the Palestinian state, and we continue to adhere to this position today.
Our approach to the Palestinian question and to the Middle East settlement is principled and non-conjunctural.
❗️ We proceed from the understanding that only the establishment and full-fledged functioning of a Palestinian State can lead to a final settlement of the Middle East conflict.
We recall your visit last year (https://t.me/MFARussia/24917) to attend the celebrations (https://t.me/MFARussia/24848) marking the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War, and we are grateful to you for taking part.
I would like to note that our relations are developing today despite all the difficulties associated with the situation in the region. Of course, in absolute terms, our trade turnover remains modest so far, but the upward trend is evident – trade has increased threefold.
We continue cooperation in the humanitarian sphere as well, including the training of personnel for Palestine. This year, 150 young Palestinians are studying – and will continue to study – at Russian universities and other educational institutions.
Naturally, security issues are among the most important topics. You know that during the most difficult periods of the crisis in Gaza, we provided humanitarian assistance – and did so primarily at your request.
Over 800 tonnes of cargo were delivered to the Gaza Strip, around 32 humanitarian operations were carried out, wheat was supplied both directly and through international organizations, again at your request.
Of course, today we will also discuss the current situation in the Gaza Strip, in Palestine as a whole, and along the Israeli-Palestinian track.
We will also address the initiative of the US President concerning the creation of a new structure which, judging by what we see, is primarily aimed at settling the situation in Palestine and the Gaza Strip.
You may have heard that we are prepared to allocate $1 billion to this new structure – the “Board of Peace” – first and foremost to support the Palestinian people, to channel these funds into the reconstruction of Gaza and, more broadly, into addressing Palestine’s problems. As I have already said, these funds would come from assets frozen in the US under the previous administration. I believe this is quite feasible. We have discussed such options before with representatives of the US administration, a meeting and discussion on this matter are scheduled to take place in Moscow today.
🤝 In any case, we are very pleased that our contacts with you continue. They take place at various levels, and we are glad that high-level contacts are also being maintained.