Hamas leader hails Russian efforts over aid embargo
Source: Reuters
(Adds Foreign Ministry statement) By Oleg Shchedrov MOSCOW, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal praised Russia's efforts to end a Western aid embargo on the Palestinian administration during a visit to Moscow on Monday intended to win support for a new unity government. Moscow later reiterated its support for the unity government which Hamas and the rival Fatah group of President Mahmoud Abbas agreed to form earlier this month. Russia is the only member of the Middle East Quartet, also made up of the United Nations, the United States and the European Union, which has maintained ties with Hamas since the Islamist group took over the Palestinian government last year. "Our goal is to encourage the international community to start cooperation with the Palestinian government and pressurise Israel to recognise the Palestinian state's right to exist," RIA news agency quoted Meshaal as saying on arrival. "We value Russia's position towards lifting the blockade from which the Palestinian people suffer. We also value Russia's special position in the issues of the Middle East settlement." Russia shares the Quartet's demands on Hamas to recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept interim peace deals. But Moscow wants Hamas to be engaged in dialogue rather than isolated and has been critical of the Western aid embargo introduced after the Hamas election victory last year. "Russia confirmed its position aimed at achieving intra-Palestinian unity in accordance with criteria set by the Quartet of Middle East mediators, and the resumption of a peace dialogue between the Palestinians and Israel based on international law," Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement after Meshaal met a deputy foreign minister. NO COMMON STAND The Quartet failed to work out a common stand on the unity government at a meeting last week. Russia wants the Quartet to back the coalition deal. The Western governments have adopted a wait-and-see approach. Meshaal, who visited Egypt before Moscow, said he had Arab backing for the unity government. "There is an Arab consensus on Mecca's agreement which we have accepted as a base for forming a unity government," he told Al Jazeera television. Meshaal was likely to try to use Moscow as the channel of communication to other Quartet leaders, said Vitaly Naumkin, head of Russia's Arab Research Centre. "Meshaal needs Russia's assistance first and foremost in unblocking the international aid," he told the Vesti-24 news channel. A visit by Meshaal to Moscow last year, defying a Western boycott on talks with Hamas, provoked protests from Israel and Washington. Naumkin said this time the mood was different. "The West now views our contacts as useful," he said. Meshaal was due to meet Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday. It was not clear whether Meshaal would meet President Vladimir Putin, who held talks with Abbas in Jordan earlier this month and discussed regional issues with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert by telephone last week. (Additional reporting by Gulf newsroom)
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