Vladimir Putin and Mahmoud Abbas
Vladimir Putin and Mahmoud AbbasReuters

Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday for talks on reviving the peace process with Israel.

According to JPost’s Khaled Abu Toameh, on the eve of the talks in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, Abbas said that he would propose holding an international conference for peace in the Middle East under the auspices of the Quartet, which consists of the US, Russia, United Nations and European Union.

“We are confident that Russia will support our efforts” to hold the conference, Abbas was quoted as having told the Russian news agency Sputnik.

He added that he would also brief Putin on the latest developments related to Palestinian-Israeli relations, “and how to find a solution that is based on international legitimacy.”

The Quartet, first established in 2002, had been on the sidelines in recent years, allowing the US to spearhead efforts to broker an Israel-PA deal.

Past efforts under the Obama Administration to broker a peace agreement failed in 2014 when the PA unilaterally applied to join international organizations in breach of the conditions of the talks.

Abbas has repeatedly pushed for an international conference for peace in the Middle East, aimed at bypassing the US efforts to resume talks.

Putin has in the past expressed a desire to host an Israeli-Palestinian Arab summit to revive stalled peace talks between the sides but nothing has materialized yet in this regard.