Mashaal: Russia visit opened door to international community
Photo: AFP
Hamas: Russia visit end of isolation
Mashaal: Moscow became place where we opened door to entire global community
Hamas' leader hailed his Moscow talks as an end to the group's international isolation and said Russia's position in negotiations differed from that of the United States and other Western nations, according to an interview published Monday.
"It broke the blockade which Israel and the United States have been trying to impose on us," Mashaal said. He also said that "Russia's position is completely unlike that of the West" and praised Russian officials for understanding Hamas' stance.
Hamas political chief Khaled Mashaal, whose three-day visit to the Russian capital ended Sunday, was quoted as telling the daily Vremya Novostei that "Moscow became the place where we opened the door to the entire global community."
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"We have never found understanding with the Americans," Mashaal told Vremya Novostei. "They aren't ready to listen to opinions which contradict theirs. And at the Russian Foreign Ministry we felt that we were being understood."
Russia's invitation to Hamas, extended by President Vladimir Putin, was the first crack in an international front against the group, which has sent dozens of suicide bombers to Israel. It provoked anger in Israel and surprise among the other members of the so-called Quartet of Middle East mediators - the United States, the European Union and United Nations - which had agreed to withhold international recognition from the radical Islamic movement until it moderated its stance.
Mashaal struck an uncompromising stance right after his arrival in Moscow on Friday, saying Hamas would not even discuss recognizing Israel. He said after the talks that the Jewish state must first withdraw from territories occupied in 1967 and allow the return of Palestinian refugees, among other conditions, if it wants peace.
In a separate interview with al-Jazeera television, Mashaal indicated the group made no such promises regarding a cease-fire during its Russia visit.
"They proposed this. Our reply was clear. We told them that we already have had two recent experiences regarding the truce that were not encouraging," Mashaal told al-Jazeera.
"Is it reasonable to pressure the Palestinians to renew the truce? No. Go to Israel, exert pressure on it. It is the reason for the problem," he said.
'Successful spin by Putin'
Mashaal criticized the U.S.-drafted Road Map peace plan for the region, saying that it wrongly has put an emphasis on security instead of political issues.
"The Palestinian problem is a political problem," Mashaal told Vremya Novostei. "The Road Map demands that we end resistance and only afterward promises to deal with politics. If we try to solve problem that way, there will be no success."
Many Russian media and observers hailed the Kremlin invitation to Hamas as helping boost the Russian role in Mideast peacemaking, where Moscow has been sidelined by the United States.
Geidar Dzhemal, a Moscow-based Islamic affairs analyst, said that talks with Hamas also helped the Kremlin win stronger sympathy from the estimated 20 million Muslims who make up nearly 14 percent of Russia's population. "That was a very successful spin by Putin," Dzhemal said at a news conference Monday.
But some expressed reservations. Alexei Malashenko, an expert with the Carnegie Endowment, said that Russia's hosting of Hamas was unnecessarily warm.
"Hamas should have been given a pat on the shoulder, but they had a passionate tango instead," Malashenko was quoted as saying by the daily Gazeta.
