Russia urges 'quartet' to solve humanitarian crisis in Palestine

Moscow, May 7 (UNI) Ahead of the May 9 meeting in New York, Russia today urged the 'Quartet' international negotiators to take urgent measures to alleviate the continuously deteriorating humanitarian situationin Palestine.

The official spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Mikhail Kamynin told reporters the humanitarian and socio-economic crisis in Palestine, will be ''a key issue'' on the agenda of the May 9 New York meeting of the 'Quartet' countries, involved in mediating the West Asia settlement. The 'Quartet' international mediators include Russia, US, EU and UN.

''The deteriorating humanitarian and socio-economic crisis on the Palestinian territories will definitely figure among the issues to be addressed by the international Quartet. Specifically, the 'Quartet' is to make decisions that would help prevent the degradation of the humanitarian situation on the Palestinian territories, and save the institutions of authority, forged in the framework of the peace process in Palestine,'' he said.

Russia wants the New York meeting to reaffirm the principles, laid down in the Roadmap plan for peace in the West Asia, as well as ''adherence to a fair, comprehensive and firm settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict,'' based on UN Security Council resolutions and on the 2002 Arab peace initiative.

''This would be of great importance,'' Mr Kamynin noted.

Russia sent 10 million dollars in urgent humanitarian aid to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) last Friday. The EU and US suspended aid to Palestine after the radical Islamic group Hamas formed government here in the wake of its resounding victory in the January parliamentary elections.

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