Lavrov Says US Actions Are Diverting Attention from Palestine

(MENAFN) Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov alleged that the United States is attempting to shift worldwide focus away from Palestine. Speaking to a news agency during an interview about developments in the Middle East, Lavrov argued that tensions involving Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, Greenland, and Canada — which he said were fueled by Washington — were redirecting global concern away from the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

"All of the efforts that are being taken right now on Venezuela, Iran, Cuba, Greenland, and now Canada ... all of these issues are moving us away from settling the most protracted, the most negative crisis in the world – that is, the crisis around Palestine," he said.

Lavrov also condemned US suggestions concerning the future of the Gaza Strip, asserting that those initiatives failed to include the creation of an independent Palestinian state. He maintained that such approaches ignored the core political solution required for lasting peace in the region.

"I have no doubt that when plans to stir up aggression against Iran were being hatched, one of the goals was to prevent the normalization of relations between Iran and the Arab states," he said.

The Russian diplomat further stated that current efforts were aimed at preventing reconciliation in the region and drawing Gulf countries into alliances that would sideline the Palestinian question. According to him, these arrangements would pressure Arab nations to distance themselves from Palestinian interests in exchange for normalized ties with Israel.

He added: "Now, everything is being done to ensure that reconciliation never happens ... and to pull its other Gulf neighbors into structures that, first, will not focus on resolving the Palestinian issue, and second, will force them to betray the Palestinian cause as the price for normalizing relations with Israel."

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