Public Lecture on Palestinian-Russian Relations

The Ibrahim Abu-Lughod Institute of International Studies (IALIIS) at Birzeit University held a public lecture on Thursday July 25th, 2013, entitled “Palestinian-Russian Relations; and the Russian Role in Middle Eastern Peace Process”, presented by Dr. Fayed Mustafa the Palestinian Ambassador to the Russian Federation.

Dr. Fayed presented a historical background on the Palestinian-Russian relations, explaining some certain points, which made the ties between the two parts significant; starting with 1974 when the PLO representative office was established in Moscow, which constituted a turning point in the political relations between Palestine and the USSR ; Then by upgrading this representation into an embassy in early 1990. It is worth mentioning also that the Russian Federation was one of the first countries to recognize the Palestinian Liberation Organization as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. Russia also stands up for establishing the Palestinian Independent State with East Jerusalem as the capital city.  

Dr. Fayed also added: “The Russian Federation has played significant roles concerning the Palestinian case. Russia is a country with great influence on international relations, and a member in the Quartet Committee for peace issues. Besides it is one of the permanent member in the Security Council with a veto power. So Russia utilized such factors in supporting the Palestinian people and their rights.”

Dr. Abdul Karim Barghouthi, the IALIIS director, said that this lecture comes within a series of diplomacy meetings organized by the Institute, which aims at helping students ginning more knowledge on diplomatic relations, through presenting experiences of some specialist diplomats.

On the other hand, the ambassador was welcomed by Dr. Adel Zagha, the Vice president for Administrative Affairs at Birzeit University. Both Zagha and Fayed discussed the best ways to enforce collaboration among Palestinian and Russian universities.