Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) welcomes Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Moscow, July 31, 2007.
Photo: AP
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Russia Foils Palestinian-Israeli Settlement
// Moscow won't refuse contact with Hamas
Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks yesterday with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. Russia expressed its readiness to act as an intermediary between Abbas and his Fatah party and the radical Palestinian Hamas movement, which took control of the Gaza Strip by force in June. The attempt to make peace between Fatah and Hamas failed. After the negotiations in Moscow, Abbas declared that a renewal of dialog with Hamas would be possible only after Hamas admitted its guilt and apologized for its crimes against the Palestinian people.
“We have consistently defended the legitimate interests of the Palestinian people, including the establishment of an independent state,” Putin told Abbas. “And I want to assure you that we will continue to support you as the legitimate leader of the Palestinian people.” At the same time, Putin made it clear that Russia does not like the American-European-Israeli plan to declare Palestinian independence not on all the territory of the Palestinian Autonomy from the beginning, but rather only on the West Bank, which is controlled by Abbas and Fatah. Moscow also intends to maintain contact with Hamas, in spite of Abbas's efforts to persuade Russian authorities not to.
After the victory of the Islamists in the Palestinian parliamentary elections in January 2006, Russia was the only member of the Middle East quartet (the Russian Federation, United States, European Union and United Nations) to declare the need to hold a dialog with the Palestinian radicals. The rest of the quartet boycotted Hamas due to its refusal to acknowledge Israel's right to existence or to acknowledge previously concluded Palestinian-Israeli agreements and because of its adherence to terrorism.
Moscow's position did not result in any serious results. Nonetheless, Russia is determined not to give up its “exclusive” relationship with the Palestinian radicals, even after Hamas rebels took control of part of the autonomy – the Gaza Strip – using armed force, leaving Abbas only the West Bank. In Moscow. they think that their contacts with the Islamists will at last bring them political dividends. Russia is hoping to take the role of intermediary and peacemaker between Fatah and Hamas. On Monday, Abu Marzouk, member of the Hamas political bureau and deputy head of the movement's political leadership, announced that Russia and Hamas had reach an agreement in principle on a visit by Hamas representatives to Moscow. “We will discuss it in the immediate future following the results of Mahmoud Abbas's trip to Russia,” he specified.
The problem is that Russia's plan goes against the plans of Israel, the West and Abbas. The division of Palestine into Hamas's Gaza Strip and Fatah's West Bank was seen in the world as a struck of unprecedented good luck and an opportunity for a long-awaited Palestinian-Israeli settlement. The idea is that a dialog can be held with moderate Abbas, ignoring Hamas and leaving it confined to the Gaza Strip. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has already reached an agreement with Abbas on concluding a so-called agreement on principles that imply the declaration of a Palestinian state on 90 percent of the West Bank. It was decided to leave the exact borders and the solution to several complexes problems for later.
Peace between Fatah and Hamas could only hinder all of that by leading to a national unity government in the autonomy and bring the radicals into the negotiating process. Knowing the position of the Hamas leaders, whose main goal is the destruction of Israel, it can be safely assumed that, with its main goal of destroying Israel, peaceful dialog will not continue for long. Therefore, the choice is between declaring independence on part of the Palestinian territory and Moscow's suggested “unification of the Palestinian people,” which would leave Palestinian statehood in an unknown future. Abbas chooses the first, and sdreams of being the first president of independent Palestine.
Alexander Reutov
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 01, 2007
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