By Denis Korkodinov
Russia is seeking to develop relations with the Palestinian Authority and it is building links with Israel’s opponents in order to influence Tel Aviv.
The Kremlin is rapidly increasing the pace of cooperation in the so-called “Palestinian dossier”. Thus, in November 2018, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Sergey Lavrov, officially announced the need for a mediating mission of Moscow in the Arab-Israeli transition process. Among other things, Russia came up with an initiative to overcome the inter-Palestinian disengagement between the Palestine Liberation Organization, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.
The result of this initiative was a meeting organized in February 2019 in Moscow. However, the meeting was not crowned with success, since its participants could not work out a common program of action to resolve the Palestinian problem.
But the culmination of Russian efforts was a draft convention, in accordance with which a visa-free regime for diplomatic officials was introduced between Palestine and Russia. This project was first announced by the ex-ambassador of Russia to the PA Haydar Aganin on May 29, 2019 and was almost immediately welcomed by the Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki. Thus, establishing a visa-free regime with Ramallah, Moscow puts itself on a par with Chile, Yemen, Serbia, Azerbaijan, and India, with whom Palestine has a relationship of trust.
It is worth noting that Russian-Palestinian relations arose at the time of the official visit of representatives of the Organization for the Liberation of Palestine in the USSR in 1970. As a result of the agreements reached in 1974, a representative office of a Palestinian organization was opened in Moscow, which later (in 1990) received the status of an embassy.
In April 2015, Moscow and Ramallah formed a joint intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation. Within the framework of this commission, a series of joint meetings was organized, the last of which was held in 2018.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is due to visit Moscow at the end of June 2019. As expected, the Palestinian leader intends to discuss with the President of Russia Vladimir Putin the Arab-Israeli conflict and the strengthening of the role of Tel Aviv in the Middle East. Probably, the Russian side will share with its Palestinian colleagues its vision of a project to limit the influence of Israel.
However, the specific list of issues that Vladimir Putin and Mahmoud Abbas will discuss in Moscow depends on what Benjamin Netanyahu can offer Russia during the upcoming anti-Iranian summit in Jerusalem. So, if Moscow considers the Israeli demands deliberately impracticable or substantially violating its interests, then it is likely that Palestine may become a decisive argument in a the negotiation with Tel Aviv.
(The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of World Geostrategic Insights).
Image Credit: President of Russia