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Moscow keeps calm with Palestinian reconciliation, undermines Trump's 'deal of the century'

Palestinian factions failed to reconcile during the Moscow meeting, but Russia didn't come away empty-handed.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov talks during a meeting with representatives of Palestinian groups and movements as a part of an intra-Palestinian talks in Moscow, Russia February 12, 2019. Pavel Golovkin/Pool via REUTERS - RC1508E52650

While Moscow may have failed to reconcile Palestinians factions during a three-day-long meeting in the Russian capital that kicked off Feb. 11, it did manage to once again throw down the gauntlet on US plans in the Middle East. 

The event, which gathered delegations of 12 political movements from Palestine — including Fatah, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad Movement — was hosted by the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences for the third time. Two previous summits had taken place in 2011 and 2017.

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