Fatah-Hamas agreement may help bring Mideast peace process out of impasse - Russian Foreign Ministry
MOSCOW. Oct 13 (Interfax) - Moscow expects that, with the signing of an agreement between the Palestinian Fatah and Hamas movements on control of Gaza, the Middle East peace process might be brought out of an impasse, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Representatives of Fatah and Hamas signed an agreement in Cairo on October 12 under which the Palestinian central authorities would have to establish full administrative control over Gaza before December 1, 2017.
"Moscow welcomes the intra-Palestinian agreements reached with Egypt's active role. We presume that they meet the Palestinian people's legitimate national aspirations. We call on the Palestinian parties to implement all planned steps to attain the ultimate objective of ensuring unity based on the political platform of the Palestine Liberation Organization and significantly improve the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip," it said.
"We expect that this development should help bring the Middle East peace process out its current impasse and resume direct negotiations on a definitive Palestinian-Israeli settlement in accordance with the known international legal basis," it said.
It was also announced following the meeting in Egypt that all Palestinian political parties and organizations would gather in Cairo on November 21 to discuss further steps to achieve national unity, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.