New Palestinian status at UN no alternative to talks with Israel - Russia
MOSCOW. Nov 29 (Interfax) - The status of a "non-member observer state" at the United Nations that the Palestinians are likely to receive as a result of a vote at the UN General Assembly on Thursday is "by no means an alternative" to proposed Israeli-Palestinian talks, a Russian deputy foreign minister said.
"Today's decision, which will undoubtedly be made at the General Assembly session, is by no means an alternative to Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, which should start as soon as possible and must rest on an international legal basis that is understandable to everyone and has been approved by the UN," Mikhail Bogdanov said in answering a question from Interfax at a news conference in Moscow.
He added that he was mainly referring to a UN Security Council resolution.
The final goal of efforts to settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is to set up an independent Palestinian state living in peace with Israel.
