WEST BANK: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev inaugurates Russian-funded museum in the West Bank city of Jericho

Record ID: 561865

  • Title: WEST BANK: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev inaugurates Russian-funded museum in the West Bank city of Jericho
  • Date: 19th January 2011
  • Summary: JERICHO, WEST BANK (JANUARY 15, 2011) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF MUSEUM IN THE WEST BANK CITY OF JERICHO FUNDED BY THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT WORKERS ON ROADSIDE MUSEUM WORKER PAINTING DOOR SIGN READING 'PROPERTY OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION' GRASS OUTSIDE TWO MEN TWO GARDENERS WATERING PLANTS MUSEUM WITH MAYOR HASSAN SALEH TALKING ON MOBILE PHONE IN FOREGROUND (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) JERICHO MAYOR, HASSAN SALEH, SAYING: "There are approximately three million Russian tourists in the region, we strive to ensure that at least one million Russian tourists will spend a night in one of the three Palestinian tourism hotspots: Jericho, Bethlehem and east Jerusalem." TWO MEN STANDING IN GARDEN EXTERIOR OF MUSEUM VARIOUS OF INTERIOR OF MUSEUM (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROJECT MANAGER, NICOLAI OBRAOVITCH, SAYING: "We started building this museum in the end of March 2010 and we built this object in around seven months with all the infrastructures here with a park, with all the details and other things which we need here." WORKERS PUTTING FINAL TOUCHES TO MUSEUM MUSEUM ARTEFACT
  • Embargoed: 3rd February 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: West bank, West bank
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Topics: International Relations,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVA26GIE8SEPK4JORHV6JHFZTB8I
  • Story Text: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas formally inaugurated a Russian-funded museum in the West Bank city of Jericho on Tuesday (January 18).
    The land the museum is built on was once the property of a Russian Tsar and was abandoned during the Russian Revolution of 1917. In 2008, the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society returned the land back to the Russian Federation.
    The project - a movement of cooperation between the Jericho municipality and the Russian diplomatic mission to the Palestinian territories - is the first Palestinian venue for the display of local antiquities.
    Jericho mayor Hassan Saleh said that the project hopes to encourage more Russians to visit the area.
    "There are approximately three million Russian tourists in the region, we strive to ensure that at least one million Russian tourists will spend a night in one of the three Palestinian tourism hotspots: Jericho, Bethlehem and east Jerusalem," said Hassan Saleh.
    Saleh said that the museum was built on 12,000 square metres of land and displays artefacts found in the area.
    Russian engineer and manager of the project Nicolai Obraovitch said that the museum took some seven months to build, with the aid of Palestinian, Russian and other international workers.
    "We started building this museum in the end of March 2010 and we built this object in around seven months with all the infrastructures here with a park, with all the details and other things which we need here," said Obraovitch.
    Making his first visit to the Israeli-occupied West Bank as Russian head of state, Medvedev's visit was described as 'historic' by the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
    Prior to the inauguration, in a news conference, Medvedev stopped just short of issuing a ringing declaration of recognition of Palestinian statehood by the modern Russian Federation.
    He endorsed a Palestinian state, saying Moscow had recognised independence in 1988 and was not changing the position adopted by the former Soviet Union.
    Israel has been alarmed in the past two months by a string of recognitions by Latin American states including Brazil and Argentina, which some analysts say could be a precursor to a move by the Palestinians to seek full United Nations membership if efforts to revive moribund peace negotiations fall through.
    Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has confirmed that is one of his options. At a news conference with Medvedev in Jericho, the Moscow-educated leader thanked Russia for being "one of the first states in the world to recognise the state of Palestine in 1988".
    Communist Moscow recognised a Palestinian state declared by the late Yasser Arafat, in a move that won broad support in the Soviet bloc and developing world but had little real impact on diplomatic and political realities.
    Medvedev drove into the Israeli-occupied West Bank in a road convoy from Amman airport in Jordan, crossing over the historic Allenby Bridge in an unusual route for a head of state that was dictated by an Israeli foreign ministry strike, which had forced him to cancel the Israel leg of his trip.
    Palestinian security men were out in force and curious crowds lined the streets of Jericho to watch the convoy enter the Biblical town north of the Dead Sea, at the lowest point on earth, which has been inhabited for over 10,000 years.
    Officials said they could not remember when a visitor of that level had used the Allenby crossing, which was closed to normal traffic for the occasion. The crossing is controlled by Israeli immigration and security.
    Russia is a partner of the United States, European Union and United Nations in "the Quartet" of international powers overseeing Middle East peace negotiations.
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