Mr Arafat described to the Russian President the development of the crisis in Palestinian-Israeli relations. The Palestinian leader expressed the hope for Russia’s greater role as a co-sponsor of the Middle East peace process in promoting the quickest possible end to the current crisis, which has caused a large number of Palestinian victims.
Mr Putin underlined the need for maximum restraint on both sides to prevent the crisis from escalating. He informed Mr Arafat of Russia’s current and planned contacts with the leaders of interested countries in the region, the United States, the European Union and individual European countries aimed at providing international support to help solve the current conflict and to resume the peace process.