Updated 03:04 a.m. Moscow Time
UNITED NATIONS, September 24 (RIA Novosti) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called Thursday for a UN forum to be organized on various long-standing conflicts of the Middle Eastern and North African region, particularly the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"We propose to organize a representative forum under the auspices of the United Nations and with the participation of countries of the [Middle Eastern and North African] region, the African Union, the Arab League, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, and other interested parties," Lavrov told the UN Security Council.
The Russian Foreign Minister said the agenda of the forum should address long-standing regional conflicts, particularly the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"It is the unresolved issue of the Palestinian conflict that, for decades, is widely viewed as one of the main reasons which allows terrorists to get "moral support" and recruit more and more members," Lavrov noted.
A new escalation of the continuous Israeli-Palestinian conflict started in June this year after Benjamin Netanyahu laid the blame for the death of three Israeli schoolboys on Hamas, a radical Palestinian Islamic organization and the de facto authority in Gaza. In response, Israel launched its operation "Protective Edge."
On August 26, the Palestinian Authority and Israel with the mediation of the Egyptian government agreed to an open-ended truce. The agreement envisaged Israel opening border crossings to allow humanitarian aid and construction materials to enter Gaza Strip, as well as extending the permitted fishing zone.
The parties also agreed to continue talks within a month.
