Abbas Finds a Voice of Compassion in Putin Amid Gaza Turmoil

Abbas Finds a Voice of Compassion in Putin Amid Gaza Turmoil

By Naira Manzoor

Under the gray skies of Moscow, as the world gathered to remember the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany, a quieter but deeply emotional moment unfolded between two leaders – one fighting to preserve memory, the other fighting to preserve a homeland. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas stood before Russian President Vladimir Putin with a plea that came not just from a politician, but from a people exhausted by war, siege, and abandonment.

With Gaza once again pushed to the brink- blockaded, broken, and bleeding, Abbas brought with him the weight of a generation. His words, delivered during a solemn bilateral meeting in the Kremlin, carried more than political strategy. They carried grief. “We are a people struggling to breathe under rubble,” Abbas told Putin, his voice heavy. “And now, the United States wants to take what little we have left – our agency, our voice, our land and place it under their control.”

He was referring to U.S. President Donald Trump’s controversial proposal to impose an American-run administration in the Gaza Strip – a plan Palestinians say strips them of dignity and self-determination under the guise of “management.”
Putin listened intently, nodding not as a distant world leader but as someone who understood the scars of war, occupation, and betrayal. In his response, there was no calculation – just clarity.

“This is not a peace plan,” Putin said, with uncharacteristic bluntness. “It is another wall being built around the Palestinian people, this time not of concrete, but of control.” The Russian president also condemned Israel’s renewed blockade of Gaza, saying it was “starving a people who have already lost too much.” His words were more than diplomatic positioning – they were a lifeline, a rare echo of empathy in a world growing deaf to Palestinian suffering.

In this moment, Abbas found something that has eluded his people for years: a listening ear, and a powerful voice willing to speak on their behalf.
The meeting may not change the immediate fate of Gaza, but for many Palestinians, it signaled something far more vital – that they are not alone. That in a world quick to forget, there are still those who remember, who care, and who will speak the truth, even when it’s inconvenient.

And for Abbas, who walked through Red Square not as a guest, but as a witness to history and a bearer of his people’s pain, the visit was not just about diplomacy. It was about hope – fragile, flickering, but still alive.