RAMALLAH (HRNW) – Israeli policies risk triggering an “explosion” in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas said Thursday in a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Palestinian state media said.
The Palestinian leader told Putin that Israeli settlements, land confiscation, home demolitions and “settler terrorism” were among factors leading to anger in the West Bank, the official Wafa news agency said.
“The continuation of these Israeli measures will lead to an explosion of the situation,” Wafa said Abbas told Putin.
Russia is a member of the Middle East Quartet of international mediators, along with the United Nations, the United States and European Union.
Abbas spoke with Putin two days after meeting with Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz at his home. It was the first official visit to Israel by Abbas since 2010. Months earlier, Gantz had visited Abbas in Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority.
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