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Russia FM: Hamas taking more realistic path since Gaza war
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent and News Agencies
Tags: Russia, Israel News, Hamas 

Russia's foreign minister said Sunday that Hamas is following a more realistic path after Israel's crushing war against the militant Palestinian group controlling the Gaza Strip.

Sergei Lavrov, who met with the top Hamas political leader in Syria's capital on Saturday, urged the group to agree to a formal truce with Israel, noting that since the end of the war in mid-January there has been less rocket and mortar fire from Gaza into Israel.

Senior officials in the Foreign Ministry were furious on Sunday over the news that Lavrov met Hamas leader Khaled Meshal in Damascus. The U.S. and its European allies regard Hamas as a terrorist organization and will not deal directly with it until Hamas recognizes Israel.
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Russia, which has sought to boost its role in the Middle East, has chosen to engage the group, unlike the other members of the Quartet of Mideast
peacemakers - the United States, the United Nations and the European Union. It has invited Hamas leaders to Moscow for talks, including Meshal.

"We noticed a more realistic evaluation of the situation, the responsibility that Hamas feels not just for what happens in Gaza but for the fate of the entire Palestinian people," Lavrov said in remarks broadcast Sunday on Russia's state-run Vesti-24 television.

Lavrov also met with Syrian President Bashar Assad to discuss a proposed Middle East peace conference that Moscow wants to host. The conference would include an effort to restart peace talks between Israel and Syria.

Israel's three-week offensive in the Gaza Strip was aimed at ending rocket fire on towns in southern Israel. Egyptian mediation has so far failed to broker a formal truce.

Lavrov said he pressed Hamas to try to maintain a halt to rocket fire. The deal thing would be conclude a formal truce, Russia's RIA-Novosti news agency quoted him as saying.

He also took up Hamas' call for an end to a blockade of Gaza that Israel and Egypt imposed after the group seized control of the territory two years ago in a violent conflict with its Palestinian rivals. He said he will discuss the blockade with Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor
Lieberman when he visits Moscow next month.

Lavrov defended Russia's engagement with Hamas, saying that all sides must be included in peace efforts and that shunning Hamas helped lead to the Gaza crisis, according to RIA-Novosti.

"This should have been done much earlier, when Hamas won elections in 2006 that everyone accepted as democratic, free and honest. But because of political prejudice, most Western countries did not recognize the Hamas government, "said Lavrov.

Foreign Ministry officials held meetings early Sunday morning in an effort to formulate a diplomatic response to the Lavrov-Meshal meeting. In all likelihood, Israel will issue an official condemnation.

Diplomats in Damascus said new Middle East peace moves by U.S. President Barack Obama may have helped spur the meeting between Lavrov and Meshal after tension between Hamas and Russia over the last few months.

Lavrov was on a brief visit to Syria to attend a foreign ministers meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference and meet Syrian officials.

In recent weeks, Lieberman has been critical of Russia's contacts with Hamas. The foreign minister has expressed his desire to see a significant upgrade in ties between Jerusalem and Moscow. The Lavrov-Meshal meeting now casts a heavy pall over Lieberman's trip to the Russian capital.


Related articles:
  • Israel furious over Russia FM's meeting with Hamas leader
  • Hamas official: Russia invited us to Moscow in coming days
  • Livni rejects Russian offer to pass messages on to Hamas
  • Abbas: Hamas' abuse of religion for political end is unacceptable
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      1.   Lavrov is correct of course 20:59  |  Chris Linthwaite 24/05/09
      2.   Meshal- Lavrov =Ribbentrop-Molotov take 2 21:01  |  Mladen Andrijasevic 24/05/09
      3.   Libi should be grateful 21:13  |  Iswed 24/05/09
      4.   Bad idea 22:41  |  Matthew Houston 24/05/09
      5.   So when is Russia going to sell Hammas a Nuclear Plant? 22:50  |  Gil 24/05/09
      6.   Lets clarify something... 04:16  |  Lasmarch 25/05/09
      7.   For Mladen, # 2, on who is Churchill. 04:42  |  Fortuna Benmayor 25/05/09
      8.   We must boost help to Chechnia and Gorgia 06:47  |  Yevgeni 25/05/09
      9.   Chris Linthwaite, you and Lavrov can sign peace with Hamas 06:57  |  Dan 25/05/09
      10.   Of course, the Likud does not recognize the right of... 07:41  |  Tom 25/05/09
      11.   Hamas imposes a radical Islam. 07:59  |  Mario Sala 25/05/09
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