Russian FM Slams Gaza Siege

Lavrov has declared that Moscow hopes to host a Middle East peace conference in the next three months.

"I expect it will happen in the first half of the year," Lavrov said, while refraining from giving any specific details on possible timing of the event.

He also added that Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas will travel to Moscow next week for talks related to holding the conference.

"We believe that a new forum with the same participants and agenda as in Annapolis would help (Israeli Prime Minister Ehud) Olmert and Abbas more actively advance their negotiation process," Lavrov stressed.

This is when in the four months since the re-launch of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in Annapolis, more than 370 Palestinians have been killed, and despite a pledge by Olmert to freeze settlement construction in November, settlement construction has continued and even accelerated on the occupied Palestinian lands.