Posted on 03/03/2006 12:24:11 PM PST by AntiGuv
MOSCOW Mar 3, 2006 (AP)— The leader of the militant Palestinian group Hamas rejected pressure to soften hostility to Israel Friday, saying the Jewish state must first withdraw from territories occupied in 1967 and allow refugees to return if it wants peace.
Embarking on the group's highest-profile diplomatic mission ever, Hamas political chief Khaled Mashaal said that if Israel took these steps, "our movement will have taken a big step toward peace."
That statement while sticking to Hamas' tradition of ambiguity could be significant, because Hamas in the past has called for Israel's elimination altogether.
Mashaal also welcomed the outcome of high-level talks with Russian officials, who had said before the meetings that they would pressure Hamas to recognize Israel and abandon violence.
The talks were "good, constructive and open," Mashaal said after meeting with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and other Russian officials.
Lavrov was quoted as saying that Hamas was ready to honor all the agreements the Palestinian administration had undertaken as part of the Middle East peace process if Israel made steps to meet it halfway.
He said Russia and Hamas had also agreed to pursue contacts, according to the RIA Novosti news agency.
"I won't give overly optimistic forecasts, but this is a step in the right direction," Lavrov was quoted as saying. He cautioned, however, that "there is a long way to go to resume the peace process."
The Russian Foreign Ministry said later Friday that Hamas also promised to maintain a year-old cease-fire if Israel refrains from force. Mashaal could not be reached immediately for comment.
Hamas, which has killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings, has largely stuck to the informal truce, though other militant groups have carried out attacks against Israel.
Russia's invitation to Hamas, extended by President Vladimir Putin, was the first crack in an international front against the group, which won a majority of the seats in the Palestinian parliament in January.
The invitation 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 the United Nations, which had agreed to withhold international recognition from the radical Islamic movement until it moderated its stance.
Israel's acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Friday that the international community must maintain a united front against Hamas as the militant group prepares to form the next Palestinian Cabinet.
Hamas' election victory prompted threats from the U.S. and the EU to cut off $1 billion in aid to the Palestinians unless Hamas recognizes Israel and renounces violence.
Mashaal struck an uncompromising stance.
"If Israel officially announces its readiness to withdraw from all territories occupied in 1967, the return of Palestinian refugees, the closure of settlements, the dismantling of the dividing wall, the release of all prisoners, then our movement will take a big step toward peace," he said. The Israelis have rejected such conditions.
Lavrov said the Hamas leadership had agreed to allow international officials to monitor their budget funding, according to Interfax and RIA-Novosti.
"They are ready to create a mechanism of international oversight," Lavrov was quoted as saying. No further details were provided.
Ahead of the talks with the Hamas delegation which met for four hours with Russian officials Lavrov warned that it must become an essentially political movement whose militant wing could be subsumed into the recognized Palestinian "security structures."
Lavrov, used careful language in his meeting with The Associated Press and several U.S. media outlets but the transformation he envisioned would mark the end of Hamas as what the European Union, the United States and Israel view as a terrorist group.
"I don't think Hamas would have any serious future if Hamas doesn't change," he said.
Lavrov said Russia understood the change would take time, and compared it to the peace process in Northern Ireland, where the Irish Republican Army gradually was compelled to disarm and embrace a political process in which the front stage was occupied by Sinn Fein, its political wing.
Hamas needs "to reassess its new role, for which maybe it wasn't ready when the elections took place," Lavrov said.
"It will be a process, hopefully not as long as the process in Great Britain regarding Northern Ireland," he said.
But the difficulties of achieving change were illustrated Friday when Mashaal declared upon arrival that the group had no intention of discussing a recognition of Israel one of the key demands set by the international community and by Russia itself.
"The issue of recognition (of Israel) is a decided issue," Mashaal said. "We don't intend to recognize Israel."
Shocking...Hamas won't recognize Israel. Nobody could have seen this coming./sarcasm.
CUT OFF THE FUNDING.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
That statement while sticking to Hamas' tradition of ambiguity could be significant, because Hamas in the past has called for Israel's elimination altogether.
"I won't give overly optimistic forecasts, but this is a step in the right direction," Lavrov was quoted as saying. He cautioned, however, that "there is a long way to go to resume the peace process."
A turd by any other name is still a turd, Lavrov. I wonder if Hamas has such a fine sense of diplomatic nuance as the striped pants diplomats of the quartet.
What part of WE WANT TO KILL JEWS AND DESTROY ISRAEL is ambiguous?
FRmail me to be added or removed from this Judaic/pro-Israel/Russian Jewry ping list.
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
There's nothing ambiguous about that statement. No wonder the world is so messed up. People hear what they want to hear and see what they want to see.
Hamas is like excrement. It's only benefit would be derived from its removal. That being said, they should get the aerial version of stool softeners..
ping
What kind of bum doesn't build a new life since 1967. Even the Red Sox have won a World Series since 1967.
What kind of bum doesn't build a new life since 1967. Even the Red Sox have won a World Series since 1967.
There is something refreshing in an enemy who refuses to deny that they are an enemy.
I will at least give Hamas credit for being honest and consistent in its stance toward Israel. This makes it much more difficult for Israeli leftists and those around the world who profess to be for "peace" in the Mid East to condemn Israel for defending itself.
That being said, an implacable enemy is an implacable enemy: Israel's choice is to destroy Hamas or be destroyed by it. With Iran (a master at using proxies to conduct terror without leaving any of its own fingerprints) close to developing a nuke, Israel has to seriously consider that a nuke could be given to Hamas and smuggled into Israel. Were I in charge over there, I'd be planning to reoccupy all of Gaza and drive out the population (as gently as possible, but with an unwavering goal of full success). A Hamas-led Gaza is a dagger pointed at Israel's throat - remove the dagger or it will remove you.
Those who have read Dave Hunt know he doesn't spare in his arguments. His denunciation in this latest updated work of the lies and deception surrounding the myth of "Palistinian" nationalism and the Arab's claim to the Promised Land, given to the Jews, is blistering—withering, and he models the foundation of Evangelical Christian support of the Nation of Israel.
"The West has given more significance to the myth of the genocide of the Jews, even more significant than God, religion, and the prophets...."—Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
The Holocaust Chronicle ~
"Palestine is the wrong name for their State. It should be called Anarchy."—FReeper sgtbono2002
"Then let's wait and see what the Arabs do after they take Gaza. There's nothing like Arab reality to break up a Jewish fantasy."—FReeper Noachian
A student told his professor he was going to "Palestine" to "fight for freedom, peace and justice,"—Orwellian leftist code words that mean "murder Jews."
The Nature Of Bruce ~
Thanks for the ping Salem. Israel should destroy hamas.
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