Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday for talks on reviving the peace process with Israel, in the context of Russia’s support for the two-state solution.
On the eve of the talks in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, Abbas said that he would propose holding an international conference for peace in the Middle East under the auspices of the Quartet, which consists of the US, Russia, United Nations and European Union.
“We are confident that Russia will support our efforts” to hold the conference, Abbas told the Russian news agency Sputnik.
He added that he would also brief Putin on the latest developments related to Palestinian-Israeli relations, “and how to find a solution that is based on international legitimacy.’
In addition, the Abbas-Putin talks were aimed at strengthening bilateral relations.
PLO Executive Committee member Ahmad Majdalani said that Abbas’s visit to Russia was primarily to revive the role of the Quartet in the region in general, and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process in particular.
Reviving the Quartet was intended to prevent the US from playing an exclusive role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, said a Palestinian official in Ramallah.
“We want the participation of several international parties in the peace process,” the official added. “The experience of the past has shown that the US can’t oversee the peace process alone, mainly because of its bias in favor of Israel.”
The current US administration “appears to be weak and not interested in playing a significant and influential role in the region,” the official said. “That’s why the Palestinian leadership has decided to push President Abbas’s initiative to encourage the Quartet members to replace the US as the main sponsors of the peace process. President Putin is a friend of the Palestinian people, and is committed to the two-state solution.”
It was not clear whether the Abbas-Putin talks also dealt with divisions among the Palestinians, including the dispute between Abbas’s ruling Fatah faction and Hamas, as well as the rivalry between the PA president and ousted Fatah operative Mohammed Dahlan.
A former PA security chief in the Gaza Strip, Dahlan was expelled from Fatah more than a decade ago after a falling out with Abbas. Dahlan has since been residing in the United Arab Emirates, where he has become a leading opponent of Abbas and the PA leadership.
Dahlan and some of his supporters recently visited Moscow, where they met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The visit sparked speculation among Palestinians that the Russians were planning to act as mediators to resolve the dispute between Abbas and Dahlan. The visit also came amid reports that the UAE has imposed restrictions on Dahlan and his men, banning them from pursuing their public activities in the Gulf state.
Dahlan supporters denied the reports and said that there was no tension between him and the rulers of the UAE. They also denied that Dahlan was considering relocating to Egypt. According to reports in the Arab media, Dahlan serves as a special adviser to UAE Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed.
Fatah officials in Ramallah, for their part, denied that Moscow was working toward ending the dispute between Abbas and his archrival, Dahlan.
“Mohammed Dahlan is a convicted criminal, and he will not be allowed to return to the Fatah leadership,” said a veteran Fatah official. “Dahlan was expelled from Fatah in 2011 because of his involvement in corruption and other serious crimes. If he chooses to return to Ramallah, he will be sent to prison, where he belongs.”
In 2016, a PA court in Ramallah sentenced Dahlan, in absentia, to three years in prison after convicting him of embezzling $16 million.