PRESS RELEASE
The Incident in the West Bank
Four Israeli settlers – two men and two women, one of them pregnant – were killed on August 31 in the Hebron area, West Bank. Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades took responsibility.
Moscow strongly condemns this terrorist attack, which is obviously provocative and defiant, having been carried out right ahead of the planned resumption of direct Palestinian-Israeli talks in Washington on September 2.
We hope that the investigation begun by Palestinian authorities will yield concrete results and the perpetrators of this crime will be punished.
It is essential that all parties show restraint and not take action that could negatively affect peace efforts in the interests of the Palestinian and Israeli peoples. They must work together to give a rebuff to the extremists who have no interest in resuming the Middle East peace process and undertake actions to torpedo it. The common task is to neutralize such attempts and to preserve and use the chance to advance Palestinian-Israeli settlement.
September 1, 2010
