Lavrov points out Palestinians’ historic ‘mistake’

The rejection of the 1947 partition plan left the Arab population without a state, the Russian foreign minister has said

The Palestinians’ rejection of the 1947 UN partition plan was “a mistake,” but that’s not what children are taught in schools today, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday.

The 1948 Arab-Israeli war signified a missed opportunity to create a Palestinian state and stabilize the Middle East, the diplomat told Al Arabiya.

“Three or four generations of Arab children came and went over this 80-year period. When they go to school... their teachers talk about Palestine’s history and... They probably omit the fact that the Palestinians made a mistake by refusing to create their own state in 1948,” he noted.

What children learn is how their people’s rights were ignored in recent decades, Lavrov added. In discussions with Russia, Israeli officials dismiss those grievances as insufficient to justify extremism.

“Probably not. Extremism knows no justification, but addressing the root causes is an imperative,” he said. Without a Palestinian state as originally intended by the UN, “there will be no stability or calm [in the Middle East].”

Read more

Yet the Israeli government, Lavrov said, is determined to undermine Palestinian statehood and is exacerbating the crisis, such as with its recent declaration of occupied West Bank lands as state property.

Previously, Israeli military officials claimed there were no civilians in Gaza as they bombed the enclave in retaliation for the October 2023 Hamas attack. Moscow condemned the militants’ raid, but Lavrov stressed that the Israeli stance that “there were no civilians there, as if everyone there were terrorists, starting at the age of three” is likewise unacceptable.

There is deep uncertainty about Gaza’s future, the minister said. Israel’s insistence that Hamas be dismantled militarily and politically clashes with the reality that the movement is deeply entrenched in political life, much like Hezbollah in Lebanon. “One may disagree with such views, but there are many countries where figures holding radical positions occupy leadership roles,” Lavrov noted.

READ MORE: Israel’s Gaza ‘ceasefire’ death toll tops 600

Russia wants to see Gaza rebuilt and has offered to finance reconstruction. This may require relocating Palestinians because Gaza “has been devastated,” but their right of return must be guaranteed, the diplomat stressed.