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Russian President Visits West Bank

   Luis Ramirez | Jericho, West Bank  18 January 2011
   Palestinian  President  Mahmoud  Abbas,  right,  and Russian President
   Dmitry Medvedev, left, shake hands at the end of a press conference in
   the West Bank town of Jericho, 18 Jan 2011

Photo: AP

   Palestinian  President  Mahmoud  Abbas,  right,  and Russian President
   Dmitry Medvedev, left, shake hands at the end of a press conference in
   the West Bank town of Jericho, 18 Jan 2011

   Russian  President  Dmitry  Medvedev has made a rare visit to the West
   Bank, where he reaffirmed Moscow's recognition of a Palestinian state.

   With  drums  beating, schoolboys parading, and scores of people lining
   streets  decked  with  Russian  and  Palestinian  flags,  the  Russian
   leader's  visit gave Palestinians a chance to show themselves as ready
   for statehood.
   Palestinian  President  Mahmoud  Abbas  welcomed  Medvedev to Jericho,
   where  the  two signed a number of cooperation agreements. The Russian
   leader  inaugurated  a  Russian  art  museum  in  the ancient town and