Israel, amid fears in Jerusalem that "the world will be pressured to show understanding" for a Hamas-led Palestinian government.
Defying international pressure, Hamas said this month it would never recognize Israel, but might be willing to negotiate terms for a "temporary truce" with the Jewish state. Putin has argued that his invitation to Hamas leaders to visit Moscow was meant to speed up the Middle East peace process.
Hamas suicide bombings helped spearhead a Palestinian revolt that erupted in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 2000, but Putin said that, unlike the United States and European Union, Russia does not consider the group a terrorist organization.
"We have never considered Hamas a terrorist organization," Putin said in Madrid last week,
February 9. "Hamas came to power, as a result of democratic, legitimate elections, and we must respect the choice of the Palestinian people."
Outraged by Moscow’s overtures to Hamas, Israel has told its diplomats to play up alleged ties between the Palestinian militants and Chechens fighting to break away from Russia, news reports said Monday, February 13.
PAMPHLET CIRCULATED
A pamphlet cites posters celebrating Hamas and Chechen leaders as Islamic warriors, which it claims were distributed by the Palestinian militant group at West Bank universities and an orphanage in 2004 and later seized by Israeli troops.
In a statement to BosNewsLife, the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the cabinet also discussed the feared Hamas visit to Moscow during a meeting Sunday, February 12.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni "warned that the Hamas invitation is liable to lead to a "slippery slope" scenario, by which this terrorist organization would function in two tracks, employing a ‘political arm’, which would work to establish a technocratic Palestinian government, while still retaining its ‘terrorist arm’, dedicated to violence against Israel," the ministry said.
INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
"Thus, Hamas plans to gain legitimacy in the eyes of the international community without meeting any of the preliminary conditions set out by world leaders," it added.
"Hamas is a terrorist organization and must be treated as such," Livni warned in an earlier statement to media. "The decision by the Quartet, of which Russia is a member, sets preliminary conditions which must be met if the Palestinian Authority is to be able to achieve legitimacy. These conditions are fundamental and basic and are not negotiable, and the Palestinians must accept them unequivocally, just as they are."
The Quartet said recently that "that all members of a future Palestinian government must be committed to nonviolence, recognition of Israel, and acceptance of previous agreements and obligations, including the Roadmap".
"SLIPPERY SLOPE"
In an interview, Livni said however that the international community would encounter the Hamas’ "slippery slope" as soon as it engages in dialogue with them.
"Once it begins, the world will be pressured to show understanding for the Hamas’ Palestinian government, then convinced to extend monetary assistance, and finally be forced to grant it legitimacy – and this is certainly a phenomenon we must work against."
She stressed that "the very holding of elections does not whitewash terrorism, but just the opposite – An authority or entity or state that is led by a terrorist organization becomes a terrorist state".
Livni also told reporters that "the most problematic situation will be if they [Hamas] continues to perpetrate terrorism while at the same time running the educational" system. "We’re not just talking about daily terrorist attacks," she warned. "They will also be teaching this ideology to the children."
CHRISTIANS PRAY
Last month, Christians around the world participated in the fourth annual International Day of Prayer and Solidarity with Israel on Sunday, January 29, amid growing concern among especially evangelical groups over Israel’s security situation.
The Israeli government deals with Hamas without Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who has been comatose since suffering a massive stroke more than five weeks ago. He was believed to be in critical but stable condition Monday, February 13, following emergency abdominal surgery over the weekend.
Sharon, 77, was rushed into surgery Saturday morning, February 11, after an abdominal scan revealed dead tissue in his digestive system. Doctors reportedly removed 50 centimeters, or one-third, of his large intestine during the four-hour surgery, the seventh Sharon has undergone since suffering the debilitating stroke January 4. (With BosNewsLife’s Stefan J. Bos, BosNewsLife Research and reports from Israel).
