Russia hosted Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki in Moscow on Dec. 21 for talks focusing on bilateral relations, the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and the intra-Palestinian reconciliation talks mediated by Egypt. There hasn't been much progress on the latter two issues, and Israel is less than enthusiastic about Russian efforts in regard to them.
A reconciliation between Hamas, which controls Gaza, and Fatah, which dominates the Palestinian Authority (PA), which controls the West Bank, appears to be dead in the water despite Egypt's efforts to keep it alive. Russia has also reached out to both parties. Visits by high-ranking PA officials to Russia have become routine. PA President Mahmoud Abbas himself has been to the Russian capital twice this year, and Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas' political bureau, is set to visit early next year.
Israel has lambasted Russia’s outreach to Hamas. The Israeli ambassador to Russia, Harry Koren, reportedly protested the planned Haniyeh visit in a Dec. 19 meeting with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov. The Russian diplomat responded by reminding Koren that Israel itself has been negotiating with Hamas, to reach a formal truce.
As for Russian-Palestinian bilateral links, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at his meeting with Maliki that trade between Russia and Palestine remains modest. In 2017, they traded $3.04 million worth of goods, with Russian exports totaling $2.67 million and imports $373,900. In November, Russian Minister of Labor and Social Development Maxim Topilin reported year-on-year growth in trade of 61% for the first eight months of 2018, totaling $3.6 million. Topilin attributed the increase to Russia exporting more flour, sunflower oil and construction materials.
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