Russian MFA: Jerusalem should be divided between Israelis and Palestinians

PanARMENIAN.Net - On June 5, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the status of Jerusalem can be defined only after the borders between Israel and Palestine are demarcated and the refugee issue is resolved.

"There will be no solution (to resolving the status of Jerusalem) without the border demarcation and the resolution of the refugee problem," Lavrov said.

Russia believes that West Jerusalem should belong to Israel while East Jerusalem should go to Palestinians while holy sites could be placed under international control, Lavrov said.

Any statements that Jerusalem will belong only to one side "will never work," Lavrov said, adding that inter-state format was a solution to the problem.

The Palestinians are seeking to create an independent state on the territories of West Bank, East Jerusalem, partially occupied by Israel, and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and want Israel to pull out its troops from the Palestinian territories occupied after the 1967 war.

Israel, however, has refused to return to the 1967 borders and is unwilling to raise the issue of Jerusalem, which it says is the indivisible capital of the Jewish state, RIA Novosti reported.