Russia tells Hamas to recognize Israel

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Palestinian election winner Hamas must
recognize Israel’s right to exist and abide by interim peace
deals with the Jewish state, Russia told the militant group
during the first day of talks on Friday.

Shunned by Israel and the United States, Hamas hoped to
gain a measure of international standing from the Moscow talks,
its first with a major foreign power since winning Palestinian
parliamentary elections on January 25.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he had insisted
all demands made by the Quartet of Middle East mediators —
Russia, the United Nations, United States and European Union —
must be respected.

“That means above all the need to stick by all existing
agreements, the need to recognize the right of Israel to exist
as a partner in negotiations (and) the need to reject all armed
methods of settling political questions,” the Interfax news
agency quoted him as saying after talks with Hamas leaders.

Earlier, Lavrov said “our Palestinian friends can count on
the support of Russia” if they complied.

But even before its first meetings in Moscow, Hamas dimmed
hopes of any breakthrough by saying it was firm in its refusal
to recognize Israel. Its charter calls for Israel’s
destruction.

“Hamas maintains a red line: that we do not recognize and
will not recognize the Zionist entity,” Mohammed Nazzal, a
senior official accompanying exiled Hamas politburo chief
Khaled Meshaal, told Reuters.

Asked later by reporters about Russia’s demand that Hamas
abide by interim peace deals, Meshaal was non-committal.

“Our clear position is that we will deal with existing
agreements according to the interests of the Palestinian
people,” he said.

Faced with a threatened freeze in Western aid to the
Palestinian Authority, Meshaal said Hamas was offering
“guarantees” to potential donors that their money would not be
used by the militant group.

“It will go to the Palestinian people and it will not go to
Hamas’s budget,” Meshaal said.

The Moscow talks are expected to last for three days.

Although the visit was a setback for U.S.-Israeli efforts
to isolate Hamas, Russia’s mediation was seen by some in the
West as a chance to push the group toward a more moderate
stance.

PUTIN IN CONTACT WITH ISRAEL

Israeli interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he had
received assurances from Russian President Vladimir Putin that
Moscow would “limit contacts” with Hamas, a leading force in a
Palestinian uprising that erupted in 2000.

“We have to retain the international front that Israel has
built up over the principles we have set out,” Olmert told
members of his Kadima party, referring to demands Hamas
renounce violence, recognize Israel and abide by interim peace
deals.

Israel holds its own elections on March 28.

Hamas, which has already met Arab states, viewed the talks
as a chance to advance its position on the world stage. Israeli
officials cautioned that the Russia meeting could prompt other
countries to recognize Hamas.

In Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s choice for Palestinian
prime minister, said a Hamas delegation would visit Saudi
Arabia after Russia, and then South Africa “when the time is
set.”

Hamas is seeking funding to keep the Palestinian Authority
running after Israel cut off vital tax revenues this month.

It has staged 60 suicide bombings during the Palestinian
revolt but has largely abided by a truce declared a year ago.

While so far ruling out permanent coexistence, the group
has said it could accept a long-term ceasefire if Israel quits
all the occupied West Bank and meets other demands.

“There can be no peace, no stability as long as occupation
and aggression continue,” Meshaal said.

(Additional reporting by Richard Balmforth in Moscow)