Russia is ready to promote direct contacts between Israel and the Palestinian leadership and working toward a high-level meeting of the Middle East Quartet mediating the Israel-Palestinian peace process, the Russian foreign minister said Wednesday.

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"We emphasized our readiness to facilitate direct dialogue between the Palestinians and Israelis in order to resolve all fundamental final-status issues," Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after meeting with his Palestinian Authority counterpart, Riad al-Maliki.

Lavrov said Russia considers it crucial to hold a ministerial-level meeting of the Quartet, which consists of Russia, the United States, the European Union and the United Nations.

Maliki said the administration of US President Joe Biden "is again aware of its responsibility in the Quartet ...We expect that this will create a new environment of trust."

Maliki said that during Donald Trump's presidency, "The American administration showed that it openly leaned toward Israel. Based on this experience, we understand that we cannot return to that situation."

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The Middle East Quartet of mediators – the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations – discussed on Tuesday reviving "meaningful negotiations" between Israel and the Palestinians with the aim of a two-state solution.

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In a statement following their meeting, the Quartet said that both Israel and the Palestinians need "to refrain from unilateral actions that make a two-state solution more difficult to achieve."

It appeared to be the first time since September 2018 that envoys from the four mediators have met. Last month, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he hoped there would be a Quartet meeting in coming weeks, now that there was a new president in the White House.

The Palestinians want a state in Judea and Samaria and the Gaza Strip with east Jerusalem as its capital.

The new administration of US President Joe Biden has said it supports a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians and will overturn several decisions made by former US President Donald Trump.

It has said it will continue to urge other countries to normalize ties with Israel, but stressed that is not a substitute for Israeli-Palestinian peace.

In a major foreign policy success, Trump's administration helped secure agreements late last year by four Arab states – the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco – to normalize relations with Israel.

The Quartet was established in 2002 and has been criticized for its failure to get either Israel or the Palestinian Authority to change their policies and negotiate an end to their conflict.

Tuesday's statement by the Quartet envoys did not mention any future steps.

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"Normalization between Israel and the Arab states does not mean a resolution to the Palestinian issue must become a second priority," Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in a meeting with his United Arab Emirates counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan.

"We are united in our opinion with the United Arab Emirates on the Palestinian issue. The normalization of Israel's ties with Arab states is gaining steam. Overall, this is of course a positive phenomenon because it eliminates longstanding disputes and establishes channels of cultural and legal communication," Lavrov said.

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The Russian ambassador, however, emphasized that Russia has always claimed that the Palestinian process cannot be pushed back "to a second priority and forgotten." He reiterated that the Palestinian issue must be solved on the basis of existing UN resolutions that should include the establishment of an independent Palestinian state to be established alongside, and in peace and security with, the State of Israel.

According to Lavrov, the UAE foreign minister confirmed this had also been his country's position during talks to normalize ties with Israel. The Russian ambassador emphasized that the international community needed to help to kick start direct talks between the Palestinians and Israel.

To that end, Russia has repeatedly proposed renewing the work of the Quarter – comprised of representatives from Russia, the US, the UN, and the EU. Lavrov added that Moscow saw a need to share the Quartet's efforts with Arab League representatives. The Russian foreign minister said he had recently spoken with his UAE counterpart about establishing a quartet of Arab nations that would include Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the UAE.

"I believe that we can and should combine the efforts of the international quartet with the Arab quartet to be established in order to agree to the conditions for renewing direct negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel," he said.

Lavrov said, "Our ultimate goal is the achievement of full normalization in the Middle East, the establishment of a Palestinian state, and the establishment of ties between Israel and all of the countries in the region."

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Relations between Israel and the Gulf Emirates began to thaw back in 2015, from nothing. In 2010, the Dubai police exposed the targeted execution, supposedly by Mossad agents, of arch-terrorist Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. The Emiratis were outraged. They ceased to trust the few Israelis with whom they had secretly maintained ties. Cooperation was frozen. The Emirati police, via Interpol, issued an arrest warrant for 33 Mossad personnel whom they suspected of carrying out the mission.

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The affairs caused waves in the Mossad. Its tactics had been exposed, its people were grounded and at risk of arrest. No less serious – Israel had lost a vital relationship with an Arab nation. Not only were defense ties severed, so were the quiet business dealings that had been going on for years.

Change became possible when Netanyahu addressed the US Congress in March 2015 and spoke against the Iran nuclear deal. Like other Gulf states, the Emiratis felt bet rayed by then-US President Barack Obama. The stance Netanyahu took, against the deal and against Iran, as well as against the US administration, impressed Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohammed Bin Zayed. Since taking over in 2005, Bin Zayed has spearheaded a process of modernization, increased openness to the world, and tolerance in the UAE. He has labeled Iran, as well as radical Sunni Islam, dangerous.

'A life of their own'

It was Blair who identified an opportunity to build cooperation with Israel based on this shared outlook. When he stepped down as British prime minister in 2007, he said it was his life's dream to bring peace to the Middle East. He was appointed envoy to the Middle East Quartet (representing the US, Russia, the United Nations, and the European Union), but it 2015 resigned, having reached a clear conclusion.

"I have thought for a long time that the whole position that you have to have a peace deal [between Israel and the Palestinians] first, and then you open up relations between Israel and the Arab world … needed to be turned on its head and do it the other way around. I believe strongly you will not have a solution to the Palestinian issue unless it's with the full cooperation and participation of the Arab world," Blair tells Israel Hayom from London.

When he was free from pressure from foreign countries, Blair began leading the process according to his own outlook. Coincidentally or not, that happened to be similar to that of Netanyahu, with whom Blair had a strong relationship going back a few years. Netanyahu, too, had been arguing since 2015 that Arab states would bring the Palestinians to peace, not the other way around. Blair courted Arab states, and found the UAE most willing to listen. Still, in order to get the Emirates to renew contact with Israel, the Mabhouh affair had to be overcome.

Even five years later, the Emiratis were still furious with Israel. They called the killing "disrespectful" and demanded guarantees that Israel would not use their territory for targeted killings ever again. Israel agreed, and apparently shared sensitive information with them to demonstrate its sincerity. That was the icebreaker.

But Blair wasn't alone. To solidify faith in the conciliatory messages he was sending, Netanyahu enlisted his confidant, Yitzhak Molcho. Blair introduced Molcho to one of Bin Zayed's junior ministers. The two first met in London at the end of 2015, with Blair sitting in, and the meeting went well. It led to contact that included many meetings between Molcho and the Emirati minister in both Cyprus and Abu Dhabi, as well as numerous phone conversations.

Secret meetings in Jerusalem

In the talks between Molcho and the Emirati minister, Israel made a commitment not to operate on Emirati soil without coordinating with the government. A deal was also struck that in future, both countries' security apparatuses would work together when it came to "security challenges" such as Mabhuh. Israel's approach suited the Emirati ruler, who had already identified the Muslim Brotherhood and radical Islam as bitter enemies. Words transitioned into action, and Netanyahu approved the sale of various civilian and defense systems to the UAE.

The most important sign that the process was succeeded was the Emiratis agreeing in 2016 to cancel the Mossad agents' arrest warrant. That was an important coup for Israel, and it was down to Molcho.

Once that initial and major stumbling block was removed, relations between the two countries continued to grow warmer. At the end of 2016, the same Emirati minister began holding meetings with Netanyahu. At first, the talks were held in Cyprus, but then moved to the Prime Minister's Residence in Jerusalem. The trust being built eventually to contact with the Emirati crown prince himself. It started with telephone calls, which became more frequent. Netanyahu and Bin Zayed spoke once every few weeks and exchanged opinions about and analyzed regional processes.

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Blair says that Bin Zayed turned out to be "an exceptional political and leadership talent." The more they were in contact, the more it became clear that he and Netanyahu held similar worldviews. When Netanyahu said dozens of times in the past few years that his opposition to Iran reflected the position of other regional leaders, he was talking about Bin Zayed, and not only him. No less importantly, the crown prince talked with Netanyahu about the future of the region and the need to use modern tools to solve the problem of the young, unemployed generation in the Middle East.

In 2018, Netanyahu visited the Emirati capital twice, on an Israeli flight that crossed Saudi airspace. Given the close ties between Bin Zayed and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, it seems highly likely that Riyadh knew that the place crossing its skies was carrying the Israeli prime minister.

From an idea to shared interests

Netanyahu met with Bin Zayed for a few hours, and the two formed immediate, excellent, ties. During one of the two meetings in Abu Dhabi, Netanyahu even took a tour of the city even though time was short.

What began as similar outlooks on the regional situation slowly became intertwined interests in a wide variety of fields. As a great believer in science and technology, Bin Zayed found common ground with Netanyahu on these subjects, too. It was not by chance that one of the five meetings in Abu Dhabi last week was devoted to space. The Emirates, believe it or not, have already sent a spacecraft to Mars.

Blair emphasizes that two major factors were necessary to reach a breakthrough: "Creating the political framework for such discussions. Of course there are security reasons why it is important that Israel and the Arab states cooperate. They all face the threat of extremism, whether of the Shia variety promoted by [Iran] or the Sunni variety, promoted by the Muslim Brotherhood through the spectrum of various groups. The common security threat is one essential part of the discussion."

But Blair says the political framework wasn't enough.

"Relations with Israel needed to become a priority," he says. "The second thing is that you need to take the practical steps of engagement. Those practical steps were over a period of years, building trust, making sure that the two sides believed they could have meetings, confidentially, making sure they discuss things openly. Making sure that individual people within each system go to know each other and trust each other. That has been the work of these last years, building up to this point."

Blair stresses that it wasn't only the danger from Iran that brought Israel and the Emirates closer together.

"The single most important thing to realize about all of this is that it's not just about security. The conversation was about the region, how it's developing, the economy, culture," he says.

Blair praises Netanyahu's leadership (calling him a "remarkable politician"), as well as the White House and Jared Kushner and Bin Zayed, and emphasizes that in the UAE, "It wasn't only the royal family, but key officials."

Blair says that the actual breakthrough, the historic announcement of normalization, happened because the opportunity presented itself to link Israel postponing its plans to apply sovereignty to the Jordan Valley and settlements in Judea and Samaria to normalization with the Emirates. "That opportunity was able to be taken because of this long process of engagement," he explains.

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According to the report, Abbas said he wants the talks to be based on "international legitimacy" and be held under the auspices of the Middle East Quartet, with international involvement. Earlier, the PA reportedly said it was willing to hold direct talks as well.

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The Quartet is a foursome of nations and international entities involved in mediating the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. It comprises the United Nations, the United States, the European Union, and Russia.

A statement by the Kremlin said that Russia reaffirmed its support for a "fair long-term solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the basis of international law." It also stresses the need for building up Palestinian unity as part of this process.

Earlier, Kremlin welcomed a joint press even that saw Fatah – the backbone of the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority – and Hamas, the Islamist terrorist group controlling the Gaza Strip, proclaim that they will jointly act against Israel's plans to extend sovereignty to large parts of Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley.

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The PA has called for an intifada – uprising – over the plan, while Hamas warned that if Israel pushes it through it would be a "declaration of war."

The push for sovereignty under a peace plan unveiled by US President Donald Trump earlier this year has already drawn stark rebukes from the EU and some of the Arab states.

This article was originally published by i24NEWS

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Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh declined to provide further details about the four and a half page proposal but said the Palestinian position on major issues is well-known. He said the plan was submitted in recent days to the Quartet of Mideast mediators – the US, the UN, the European Union, and Russia.

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The Trump administration has chastised the Palestinians for rejecting its plan. Israel and the US have long accused the Palestinians of failing to provide their own proposal. The Palestinians said their demands are rooted in international law and UN resolutions.

The two sides have not held substantive peace negotiations in more than a decade.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to annex large parts of Judea and Samaria. This is in line with the Trump plan, which would give the Palestinians limited statehood in a cluster of enclaves if they meet a long list of conditions. Israel is expected to begin the annexation process as soon as July 1.

The Palestinians have responded to the threat of annexation by cutting all ties with Israel, including security coordination, and saying they are no longer bound by agreements going back to the early 1990s. They are also seeking to rally international support against annexation, hoping to pressure Netanyahu to back down.

Key Arab nations, including Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, have condemned the annexation plan. The European Union, which has close ties with Israel, has also warned that annexation could have negative consequences for relations. It has urged both sides to resume dialogue and to avoid unilateral steps, but has not announced any concrete planned responses.

Shtayyeh told reporters that annexation is an "existential threat" that would mark the "total erosion of our national aspirations." The Palestinians want a state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, territories Israel seized in the 1967 war.

Shtayyeh said it would be a "demilitarized state" and that the Palestinians would accept "minor border modification" and the exchange of territory equivalent "in size, in volume, and in value."

He said the Palestinian leadership would not give in to Israeli demands that they resume contacts in order to facilitate the monthly transfer of some $150 million in taxes and customs that Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinians. This money is a crucial source of income for the Palestinian Authority.

Shtayyeh said Israel could continue to make the transfers without any direct contacts. He said if the transfers do not go through, the PA will be unable to pay the salaries of tens of thousands of civil servants and security forces starting this month.

"Our people are ready for sacrifices," Shtayyeh said. "We are not ready to accept any blackmail. The issue here is not money for politics."

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He said the PA would continue to issue medical permits and help with the expenses of Palestinians in Judea and Samaria and Gaza who require treatment in Israel. He also said the PA would continue to "support our people in Gaza in every single way possible."

Shtayyeh acknowledged that the coming period would be difficult.

"Patience is the name of the game," he said.

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