MOSCOW, November 22 (Sputnik) — Finding a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis is vital and should not be put on hold, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saturday.
"It is crucial to understand that the problem of the Palestinian state cannot be kept 'deeply frozen' forever," Lavrov said at the assembly of the Russian Council on Foreign and Defense Policy.
The latest round of the Israeli-Palestinian talks in spring this year did not yield any tangible results.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict escalated over the summer, when Israel launched operation Protective Edge against Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement, in response to the group's rocket attacks against Israel.
In late August Israel and Palestine agreed on an open-ended ceasefire, brokered by the Egyptian government.
However, the tensions have escalated again recently, after Israel announced its plans for new settlements construction in East Jerusalem. In early October, Palestine worked out a draft UN Security Council resolution that defines strict time limits for Israel to end its occupation and remove settlements before November 2016.
