Russian, Palestinian presidents to meet on Tuesday

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas in Russia's resort city of Sochi on Tuesday, a Kremlin statement said.

Putin and Abbas will discuss further development of bilateral cooperation and the situation in the Middle East, "taking into account Russia's efforts for a resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict," the statement said.

The Palestinian-Israeli conflict dates back to 1917, when the British government, in the now-famous Balfour Declaration, called for "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people."