Thu 18 March 2021:
Jerusalem should become the capital of two independent countries Israel and Palestine, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.
The spokeswoman recalled that the embassy of the partially-recognized Republic of Kosovo to Israel opened in Jerusalem on March 14, adding that this move went sideways with a relevant United Nations Security Council resolution.
“In this context, we would like to confirm the position of Russia on Jerusalem, it remains unchanged the city should become the capital of two independent states Palestine and Israel, open to followers of all three monotheistic religions,” Zakharova said during a briefing.
The past four years have entrenched US favouritism for Israel through policies such as cutting off US aid to the PA and withdrawing funding to the UN refugee agency on which millions of Palestinians depend for education, food and livelihoods.
Going against international consensus, the Trump administration recognised Israel’s sovereignty over Jerusalem and the occupied Golan Heights and declared that settlement building is not illegal.
Nearly 500,000 Israelis live in settlements in the occupied West Bank. In recent years settlement expansion has intensified, threatening the viability of an independent Palestinian state as part of the two-state solution.
While Biden has indicated that his administration will restore Washington’s pre-Trump policy of opposing settlement expansion, he nonetheless claims “ironclad support” for Israel.
Analysts have pointed out that Biden’s Israel policy is likely to be a continuation, not a reset of the previous administration. Biden campaign officials have said he will likely not reverse Trump’s recognition of Israel’s sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights either.
Biden has said he would leave the US embassy in Jerusalem.
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