Russia Warns West Bank Is Approaching ‘Point of No Return’
Dragon Media News Desk
Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, has warned that the situation in the West Bank is moving toward severe destabilisation and could have far-reaching consequences for the broader military and political environment in the Middle East.
Speaking at a UN Security Council briefing in New York on August 11, Nebenzia said the West Bank was approaching a “point of no return.”
He identified the continued expansion of Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, escalating settler violence and increasingly restrictive measures affecting the movement of Palestinian residents as key factors driving the current deterioration.
Nebenzia said Russia was calling on Israel to refrain from unilateral measures, including settlement activity, that undermine prospects for a two-State solution. He also urged Israeli authorities to take effective steps to curb settler violence and return to compliance with relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council and General Assembly.
He said the situation in the Gaza Strip remained equally alarming and argued that the practical implementation of the US-backed peace plan for Gaza had effectively stalled.
While acknowledging that mediation efforts had helped prevent a return to large-scale bloodshed in the enclave, Nebenzia said ceasefire violations continued and alleged that the Israeli side bore primary responsibility for many of them.
Citing casualty figures, he said nearly 1,300 Palestinians had been killed in less than a year since the formal entry into force of the cessation of hostilities. He added that, according to UNICEF figures cited in his statement, nearly 300 of those killed were children.
Nebenzia said the success of any Middle East peace initiative should ultimately be measured against the objective of establishing an independent, unified and territorially contiguous Palestinian state comprising the West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
He argued that the Palestinian question, as well as the broader Middle East settlement, could not be resolved through temporary arrangements or closed-door deals.
Nebenzia also criticised attempts by any single country to monopolise the role of mediator, particularly where the principal mediator is perceived as favouring one side in the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Russia maintains that lasting stability in the Middle East should be pursued through coordinated international and regional efforts grounded in the existing international legal framework.
Nebenzia reiterated Moscow’s position that the principle of “two States for two peoples” should remain the central foundation of efforts to achieve a durable settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
