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Minister Meir Shitreet (Kadima)
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| By israelinsider staff and partners February 10, 2006 |
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Minister Meir Sheetrit accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of "stabbing Israel in the back" for saying he planned to invite Hamas leaders for a visit, saying that as a result of its invitatation Moscow was disqualifying itself from any role in future Israeli-Palestinian talks. Russia "cannot fill any position regarding negotiations with the Palestinians" unless it changes its position on Hamas, Sheetrit told Israel Radio.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, in her first junket to the United States, warned in an interview with The New York Sun that some members of the international community were trying to rationalize relations with Hamas. "There is a tendency sometimes among some in the international community to try and understand, to reach agreements, to take a backward step," said the foreign minister.
Russia does not see the Palestinian group Hamas as a terrorist organization, Putin said Thursday, and invited to Moscow leaders of the group responsible for dozens of suicide bombings, in comments during a visit to Spain.
Hamas official Ismail Haniyeh said Hamas leaders would visit Russia if they receive an official invitation.
A top Russian envoy to the Middle East said later Thursday from Moscow that the meeting was intended as a forum to ask the militant Palestinian group to recognize Israel's right to exist.
Israel reacted coldly to Putin's comments, which were sure to spark fears that the unified Western front the Jewish state sought to build against Hamas might be unraveling.
Hamas' surprise Jan. 25 election victory sent shock waves around the world. The group's founding manifesto calls for the destruction of Israel, and it has refused since the election to move away from that position.
Speaking at a joint press conference after meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Putin urged the world not to turn its back on Hamas.
"Hamas came to power ... as a result of democratic, legitimate elections and we must respect the choice of the Palestinian people," he said. "We have to look for solutions for the Palestinian people, for the international community, and also for Israel."
Hamas has itself claimed responsibility for many violent attacks in Israel, but Putin refused to label it a terrorist organization. "We have never considered Hamas a terrorist organization," he said.
The Russian leader said he would invite Hamas representatives to Moscow to participate in talks in the future.
"Having maintained our contacts with the organization Hamas, we intend to invite their leaders to Moscow in the near future to search for solutions," he said, though he gave no details on when the talks might be held.
Russia's U.N. Ambassador Andrey Denisov said in New York that "the key items of the agenda of such talks will be prevention and complete stop of any terrorist activities" by Hamas and its "recognition of Israel as an independent state and neighbor and political partner."
The agenda will also include Hamas' rejection of "radical views and positions which are inappropriate," keeping up the momentum of the peace process, and Hamas' cooperation with all countries in the region and "Israel first of all," he said.
"We must engage these people. We must help them to keep order on the territories, to rule, to govern," Denisov said. "It makes much more sense than just rejecting and saying we don't want to deal with that partner."
Alexander Kalugin, Russia's special envoy for the Middle East, said later from Moscow that Russia would ask Hamas to recognize Israel's right to exist.
"There cannot be any dialogue without it," he was quoted as saying by the RIA-Novosti Russian agency. Kalugin said that if Hamas representatives were to come to Russia, the meeting would be in line with agreements reached by the so-called Quartet, a group of Middle East peace negotiators which includes United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations.
Responding to Putin's comments, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said from Gaza that members would be "delighted" to visit Russia if they were officially invited.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said late Thursday that Russia's overtures to Hamas were motivated by a desire to prevent "a serious deterioration" of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and to keep the path open for international mediation efforts.
In a statement, he said that Moscow intended to deliver a strong and clear message to the Hamas leadership from the international community about the need to take "responsible decisions that are in the interests of the entire Palestinian people." He did not elaborate.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev responded to Putin's words by saying that a dialogue with Hamas can be established only if it abandons terrorism and recognizes Israel.
Israel was "blindsided" by the Russian announcement, a Jerusalem official told the Sun, as was the Bush administration. In a Washington briefing, the assistant secretary of state for the Near East, David Welch, told reporters that Russia should abide by all the quartet's agreements.
"Any weakness" the world displays toward Hamas, "will result in a negative effect - not only for Israel, but also for the Palestinian people and for the international community," Ms. Livni told the Sun yesterday after meetings in New York with Secretary-General Annan, the ambassadors of the five permanent members of the Security Council, and separately with the American U.N. ambassador, John Bolton.
Zapatero said Spain would support Russia's peace initiatives in the Middle East, adding that Russia must play a decisive role in finding an answer to the international community's standoff with Iran over that country's nuclear ambitions.
"The role of the Russian federation, of President Putin, is going to be decisive to all that affects the dialogue and the peace prospects in the Middle East following the Palestinian elections, as well as the current situation in Iran," Zapatero said. He gave no details
Both leaders also appealed for an end to the violence that has swept the Muslim world over European newspapers' decision to publish caricatures depicting the Prophet Muhammad.
The leaders also signed a joint statement on fighting terrorism, stressing that any anti-terrorism measures should observe human rights and adhere to international law.
Russia and some Europeans fear that ending outside support for the Palestinian Authority, which receives most of its funding from donors, would lead to its collapse after Hamas takes over. "Funding is okay for this month," the quartet's representative, James Wolfensohn, said yesterday in Ramallah, adding that the quartet is trying to assure that the Palestinian Authority will remain funded in the future as well.
Annan: Give Hamas a Chance
Chiming in, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the international community to give Hamas time to change it ways before ruling it out as a partner.
"We are at a very early stage of the game," Annan told reporters in New York.
"Hamas won the election but they have never been in government. They need time to organize themselves," he said.
The AP contributed to this report.
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