Palestinian leader turns to Putin for Palestinian state, dumps US and Israel as peace partners Palestinian leader turns to Putin for Palestinian state, dumps US and Israel as peace partners DEBKAfile Exclusive Report January 24, 2014, 11:07 AM (GMT+02:00) Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) launched his diplomatic intifada against Israel and exit from the Kerry peace initiative Thursday, Jan. 23, from Moscow. His meetings with President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev marked his breakaway from the US-led peace process with Israel, four months before it was due to expire, and signaled his bid for Russian backing for a Palestinian state. The Palestinian leaders defection caught both Secretary of State John Kerry and Prime Minister Binyamin unprepared – and surprised their intelligence agencies. Putin and Abbas almost certainly planned in advance to drop their bombshell on the day both Kerry and Netanyahu were otherwise engaged at two international events in Switzerland, Geneva 2 on Syria and the World Economic Forum. For the Russian leader it was a chance to show the international community and the Obama administration that he was several steps ahead of the game on the three hottest Middle East issues... debka/article/23625/Palestinian-leader-turns-to-Putin-for-Palestinian-state-dumps-US-and-Israel-as-peace-partners-
Posted on: Sun, 26 Jan 2014 20:51:55 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015