"The restoration of Palestinian unity is the key task, without which all other steps, including the resolution of the humanitarian issue in Gaza and reaching a final agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians, would be ineffective," Sergei Lavrov said following his meeting with the foreign minister of Yemen.
Last month Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah and the hard-line Islamic movement Hamas, in control of the Gaza Strip since last June, signed a declaration stipulating that the two parties agreed in principle to forge a new national unity government and set up security forces supporting the government rather than factions.
The move followed five days of talks in Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, where the parties managed to agree in general, but failed to reach an agreement on power-sharing issues.
The Russian foreign minister praised the initiative put forward by the Yemen government to restore Palestinian unity, but said much work needed to be done to resolve the issue.
"A lot of problems have accumulated between Hamas and Fatah, and laborious diplomatic work is required to overcome these problems," Lavrov said.
The West Bank is controlled by Abbas and receives financial assistance from the West, while the Gaza Strip is fully isolated and is boycotted by the Palestinian National Authority, the U.S. and Israel.
