Abbas Seeks Increased Role for Moscow Amid Row with U.S.

The Jerusalem Post reports: The Palestinians hope Russia will play a more significant role in the peace process between themselves and Israel, a Palestinian diplomat said on Sunday, a day before Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Russian President Vladimir Putin are slated to meet in Russia.

Since US President Donald Trump’s decisions to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and initiate the relocation of the US Embassy in Tel Aviv to the city, Abbas has said the Palestinians will no longer work with an American-dominated peace process and called for the establishment of multilateral peace process to replace it.

Abbas has called on Russia and a number of other states and organizations to undertake the role of mediating such a multilateral peace process. Israel has said it will only work with a US-led peace process. “Russia is interested in what is happening in the region,” Palestinian Ambassador to Moscow Abdel Hafiz Nofal told the official PA news agency Wafa. “We are betting on a larger and wider role for Russia in the peace process.”