President Mahmoud Abbas with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. (WAFA Images/Thayer Ghanayem) 

MOSCOW, February 13, 2018 (WAFA) – President Mahmoud Abbas told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin during their meeting in Moscow on Monday night that a new mechanism for peace making in the Middle East is now required and that the United States can no longer be the sole mediator in talks between Palestinians and Israelis.

“We do not accept to have the US as the mediator between us and the Israelis,” said Abbas, accusing the US administration of taking several steps that showed its bias toward Israel and stand against the Palestinians.

“If there will be efforts for negotiations, they may be done through an international conference where a mechanism will be found for the mediation and not only the US. It can also be the international Quartet adding to it a number of other countries as was the case with Iran’s 5+1, where other countries can take part. We don’t mind mediation from other countries and the Americans can be a part of that but not alone.”

He said that US President Donald Trump’s long-talked about “deal of the century” was in reality a “slap” when Trump recognized Jerusalem as capital of Israel, closed the Palestinian representative office to Washington and slashed aid to the United Nations refugee agency UNRWA.

“When they closed the PLO office in Washington, we severed ties with the US consulate in Jerusalem, which are still totally cut,” he said, explaining that the Palestinian representative in the US is currently carrying out his duties but without any official status.

“After a short while, we were surprised by Trump’s slap or deal he had spoken about, which was moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and declaring a united Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Then he stopped all funds to UNRWA and said that he was going to cut aid from us because we reject negotiations. We never rejected negotiations and we never rejected meeting with Israeli officials. The proof of that was our invitation to Moscow with (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu last year. I was getting ready to go to Moscow when I was told that Netanyahu has cancelled his visit,” said the Palestinian leader.

For his part, Putin said that he spoke on the phone with Trump about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. He also stressed the depth of Palestinian-Russian relations.

K.T./M.K.