Russia and the League of Arab States (LAS) agree that violence against Israeli and Palestinian civilians, including hostage-taking, is unacceptable, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday.
“We summed up our position on the unacceptability of any violence, the unacceptability of causing damage and death to civilians in whatever country they are in, the unacceptability of taking women and children hostage,” Lavrov told a press conference following his meeting with LAS Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit.
Lavrov also said that Russia is ready to evacuate its citizens from the conflict region.
The League of Arab States is an international organization of Arab states and a number of friendly non-Arab states in which Arabic is one of the official languages. Given the wide scope for this international organization to influence politics in the Middle East, the importance of its active participation in the resolution of the ongoing Hamas-Israel crisis seems crucial.