US Unilateral Approach Promotes Escalation Of Tensions In Middle East - Russian Lawmaker

Unilateral approach that the US administration showcases in the Middle East results in escalation of regional tensions, the chair of the Russian Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs, Konstantin Kosachev, said on Tuesday during his meeting with Pierre Krahenbuhl, the commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd January, 2019) Unilateral approach that the US administration showcases in the middle East results in escalation of regional tensions, the chair of the Russian Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs, Konstantin Kosachev, said on Tuesday during his meeting with Pierre Krahenbuhl, the commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.

"There is a an obvious trend of enhancement of unilateral approaches to Middle East settlement, including by the US administration," Kosachev said, slamming Washington for escalating regional tensions, namely in Palestine.

Washington's decision to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and continuing discussions of Israeli-Palestinian peace deal can only result in "putting end to efforts to create a Palestinian sate within borders agreed on in 1969 and with a capital in Eastern Jerusalem," Kosachev said, stressing that these borders had been enshrined in international agreements.

He went on to slam Washington for contributing to raising tensions between the two main Palestinian political parties, Fatah and Hamas, and thus impeding them from developing a common stance for negotiations with Israel.

Kosachev noted that Russian senators were in contact with their counterparts from all the regional states, including Palestine, Israel, and Arab countries.

US President Donald Trump's administration has been working on its peace plan for the Israeli-Palestinian settlement for months. However, Palestinians have rejected Washington's involvement in the conflict settlement after Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moved the US embassy there in May 2018 despite UN recommendations to refrain from establishing diplomatic missions in the city until its legal status is settled.