UN is to contribute to Middle East settlement with Russian support, Moscow believes

The United Nations is "to actively contribute to the soonest Middle East settlement" with Russian support, says the Russian foreign ministry's information and press department in a message received by RIA Novosti on Tuesday.

The 10th extraordinary session of the UN General Assembly, resumed on the initiative of Arab states and the Non-Aligned Movement, considered the recently escalated situation in the Middle East, the ministry recalls.

By a majority of votes, including that of the Russian Federation, the session adopted a resolution that again expresses the anxiety about the continuing violence on the Palestinian territories, the serious decline in the economy and living standards, as well as the aggravated humanitarian crisis.

The resolution points out the necessity "to cease the Israeli occupation", stresses "the importance to provide security and prosperity to civilian population in the whole Middle East" and denounces "any attacks against civilians by either the Israeli or the Palestinian party".

"The General Assembly has demanded an immediate cease of armed attacks, as well as of all acts of violence, terror, provocation, incitement and destruction," the message says. It also confirms the necessity of abiding by the generally recognized international humanitarian law norms by all interested parties.

The UN General Assembly has called on the world community to urgently contribute to the normalization of the humanitarian situation and the recovery of the Palestinian economy. The session participants expressed their support to the efforts of reorganizing the structures of the Palestinian national administration and conducting democratic and free elections.

The Russian foreign ministry confirmed that Russia would continue to take practical steps in accordance with all interested parties, first of all with its partners of the "four" international mediators, the USA, the EU and the UN, in order to normalize the situation, and to resume the peace process and developments towards the just Arab-Israeli settlement based on UN Security Council resolutions 242, 338, 1397, the "land for peace" formula, the Arab peace initiative and other agreements.