Palestinian President meets Medvedev

Russia: Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas arrived here Sunday on the latest stop of a diplomatic tour aimed at keeping Middle East peace efforts on track as Israel threatens a major offensive against Gaza.

He met Monday for the first time with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev against a backdrop of resurgent unrest in the Middle East, where the two frontrunners in the race to become Israeli prime minister after a snap election in February both vowed Sunday to topple Hamas through a heavy military offensive.

Their talks also come amid plans by Moscow to host an international conference on the peace process next year.

"We will look particularly at the situation in the Middle East to ensure the negotiation process continues and to avoid an Israeli-Palestinian and an inter-Palestinian confrontation," the Kremlin said in a statement.

In Washington Friday, Abbas paid a farewell call to President George W. Bush, who described the peace talks as a difficult but "irreversible" process.

"No question this is a hard challenge but nevertheless people must recognise that we have made a good deal of progress," said Bush, who leaves office next month without the deal he hoped to seal for peace in the region.

The talks between Abbas and Medvedev will look in particular at Russia's role in the Middle East, said Afif Safieh, the Palestinian ambassador to Moscow.

Safieh noted Moscow's role in pushing for dialogue between Palestinians and Israelis of Russian origin, who comprise six percent of Israel's population and traditionally vote for parties little inclined to negotiate with the Palestinians.

Russia could also try to revive dialogue between the rival Palestinian factions, being the only party in the Middle East peace process to have relations with both the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and Abbas' more moderate Fatah, Safieh said.

A member of the Middle East diplomatic quartet which also includes the European Union, the United Nations and the United States Moscow urged Hamas on Friday to reconsider its decision to end a six-month truce with Israel.

Since then, Gaza militants have launched several dozen rockets, while Israel has responded with air strikes that have killed one militant and wounded three other Palestinians.

Moscow, Monday, AFP