Arab League chief: Israeli objections to Russia-Hamas talks 'nonsense'

Arab League leader Amr Moussa on Monday said he supports Russia's initiative to hold talks with Islamic militant group Hamas, despite strong objections by Israel.

Moussa called Israeli objections to the meetings "nonsense."

Moussa told the Associated Press that "the time has changed. Many people are sick and tired of the policies of isolation and exclusion."

He was speaking on the sidelines of a financial conference in Athens.

Russia's Mideast peace partners, including the United States, insist that Hamas must recognize Israel and stop violence before it can join any international talks. But Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with the top Hamas political leader in Syria on Saturday, while Moscow has invited Hamas leaders for talks.

Lieberman withholds condemnation

A week before Avigdor Lieberman's first diplomatic visit to Moscow as Israel's foreign minister, a controversy has erupted over the Lavrov-Meshal meeting.

Lieberman shelved a statement condemning the meeting which the Israeli Foreign Ministry had drafted, in deference to the Russians, but then relented and released a weaker response expressing "deep disappointment" that the meeting took place.

The Russian foreign minister arrived in the Syrian capital on Saturday to participate in a meeting of foreign ministers sponsored by the Organization of the Islamic Conference. The meeting with Meshal came following a cooling of relations between Hamas and Russia, including Russian support of Israel's Operation Cast Lead in Gaza.

The Israeli foreign ministry was miffed over the Lavrov-Meshal meeting, especially when it was followed by a statement by Lavrov indicating that Russia would continue its contacts with Hamas despite international criticism.

Sunday morning, after discussions at the foreign ministry, the foreign ministry decided to release a statement of condemnation. Because of the sensitivity of the matter with Lieberman's scheduled June 1 visit to the Russian capital, the statement was sent to Lieberman for his personal approval.

After shelving the statement, Lieberman's office noted that this was "not the Russian foreign minister's first get-together with Meshal and it was nothing to get all excited about."

After the Prime Minister's Office subsequently condemned the meeting in Damascus, Lieberman pulled an about-face and issued a new response. "The Foreign Minister," the new statement read, "expresses deep disappointment over the meeting and believes that any meeting with Hamas makes a peace agreement more remote and legitimizes terrorism."

Senior foreign ministry officials expressed amazement at the indecisive response by Lieberman to Lavrov's meeting with Meshal.

"If the British or French foreign minister [had met Meshal], we would have already recalled our ambassador," one of the officials said.