MOSCOW, October 24 (RIA Novosti) - Palestine welcomes the Russian UN envoy's initiative opposed by Israel to send the UN Security Council delegation to the region, Palestine's chief negotiator Saib Arikat told RIA Novosti Friday.
"Russia is an example of compliance with the international law in what concerns Israel-Palestine conflict and creation and maintenance of the principle of two states," Arikat told RIA Novosti in an interview, noting that the initiative of Vitaly Churkin, Russia's UN envoy, fully corresponds to international law.
On Tuesday in his address at the UN Security Council meeting Vitaly Churkin called on Security Council to send its mission to Palestine and Israel to facilitate peace settlement.
Arikat also said that the Palestinian National Authority welcomed recognition of Palestine by Sweden and the British parliament, which showcased that the world refused to accept occupation of Palestinian territories by Israel. Chief negotiator also expressed hope more countries would follow the example of Sweden and Britain.
Palestine is going to join 522 international organizations, including International Criminal Court, in near future, according to Arikat.
Palestinians seek the creation of an independent state on the territories of the West Bank in East Jerusalem, partially occupied by Israel, and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, and want Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian territories it took after the 1967 war.
A new escalation of the continuous Israeli-Palestinian conflict started in June 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."
According to UN estimates, the operation claimed lives of more than 2,100 Palestinians and about 70 Israelis before an open-ended ceasefire was agreed upon on August 26.
On Tuesday senior Hamas official announced that indirect talks between Israel and Hamas to reach a long-term ceasefire would be resumed next week.
