MOSCOW: The Russian government has invited a range of Palestinian organisations, including Hamas and Palestinian IJ to a meeting in Moscow on February 29, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said on Friday, according to the TASS news agency. Bogdanov said the aim of the meeting was to help the various groups to close ranks. "We work on the assumption that the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people and will continue to be so," he said.
"It is recognised by the international community and ourselves," he said, but other organisations were also being invited, including Hamas and Palestinian IJ, the groups behind the October 7attacks on Israel mounted from the Gaza Strip. Moscow has already hosted senior Hamas representatives since the attack. Set up in 1964, the PLO has been recognised by the United Nations since 1974. It serves as an umbrella organisation for various groups,including Fatah, the political organisation headed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Fatah and Hamas are rivals. Hamas expelled Fatah from the Gaza Strip in a bloody conflict in 2007, but there have been attempts at reconciliation since.
Bogdanov said that groups based in Syria, Lebanon and other countries would also be present. He put the number of organisations attending the conference, to be held up to March 1 or 2, at between 12 and 14. The conference was the third of its kind, he said.
The Palestinian ambassador in Moscow, Abdel Hafiz Nofal, said Mousa Abu Marzook, deputy Hamas politburo head, would represent Hamas, and that Azzam al Ahmad would represent Fatah. Russia has long maintained close links with many Palestinian organisations, including Hamas. Close pragmatic relations with Israel have deteriorated since the Gaza War erupted.
In his remarks reported by TASS, Bogdanov expressed concern over a pending Israeli offensive on the city of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip, saying that Moscow was attempting to use its influence on the parties to the conflict. "We are continuing our contacts with representatives of Hamas and with our Israeli colleagues," he said.
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