Russia, a member of the quartet of Mideast mediators, has offered to host a conference in Moscow as a follow up to last November's U.S-sponsored meeting in Annapolis, Maryland.
"We regard the past meeting in Annapolis and the future conference in Moscow as support for a Mideast settlement rather than a forum where we could hold negotiations with Palestinians," Anna Azari told a news conference in Moscow.
The diplomat said the date, format and agenda for the Moscow conference had not been determined yet.
Azari also said that if the radical Islamist movement Hamas participated in the conference, it would negatively affect the outcome of the forum.
"We will be disappointed if Hamas took part in the conference," the ambassador said.
Israel and the Palestinian National Authority pledged at a U.S.-sponsored Middle East summit in Annapolis last year to resume peace talks, draft a settlement plan by late 2008 and come to terms on the form of a future independent Palestinian state. But their talks have made little tangible progress so far.
