World

Russia: Include Hamas In Peace Process

February 17, 2006 / 10:24 AM EST / CBS/AP

Moscow's talks with Hamas leaders next month are aimed at bringing the militant Palestinian group into the Mideast peace process, Russia's foreign minister said.

Meanwhile, Israel plans to impose crippling economic sanctions on the Palestinians after the Hamas-led parliament is sworn in Saturday, reports CBS News correspondent Robert Berger. Those include banning workers and restricting the flow of goods from the Gaza Strip into Israel and cutting off most funding to the Palestinians, to put the economic squeeze on a Hamas-led Palestinian Authority.

Hamas also is under growing pressure from Palestinian moderates to end terrorism and recognize Israel.

In other developments:

The Dalai Lama on Friday said "a little pressure" might be necessary to get Hamas to change its ways but suggested Israel and the international community establish unofficial contacts with the militants. The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader suggested Palestinians voted for Hamas because they were "fed up" with their existing Fatah rulers. "I don't think that the majority of the Palestinian people prefer violence," he said during a five-day visit to the Holy Land.

Clashes between Israeli soldiers and angry Palestinians erupted Friday in the West Bank after villagers accused Jewish settlers of scrawling graffiti defaming the Prophet Muhammad on a mosque. It called the prophet a pig, the army said. Soldiers and the military's Civil Administration unit removed the graffiti.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center will follow an impending court ruling in deciding whether to proceed with construction of its multimillion dollar Museum of Tolerance on top of an Islamic cemetery, a spokesman for the center said. Two Muslim and human-rights groups have asked Israel's Supreme Court to halt the project.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Russian officials would negotiate according to the agreed position of the so-called quartet of Mideast peace mediators: Russia, the United States, the United Nations and the European Union.

"We are counting on all this to foster progress toward a situation in which Hamas will be a legitimate, integral and useful part of the peace process in the Middle East," Lavrov told reporters.

Earlier Friday, Russia's special Mideast envoy said Russian officials would make no demands of Hamas during the meeting, which he said would take place during the first week of March, the Interfax news agency reported.

"During our meeting, we will not put forth any demands. They themselves should take a decision on steps that meet the interests of the Palestinian people and help resolve the issues on the agenda of Palestinian-Israeli relations," Alexander Kalugin was quoted as saying.

"We just want them to transform themselves in a positive manner. We are not going to sit at the table banging our fists; they know what the international community wants them to do," he said.

President Vladimir Putin's invitation to the militant group, made at a news conference in Spain earlier this month, was the latest bid by Moscow to invigorate its role in Mideast peacemaking after years of taking a back seat to the United States. The invitation stunned Israel and other nations.

Hamas's parliamentary victory prompted threats from the United States and European Union to cut off massive aid to the Palestinians unless the group responsible for scores of suicide attacks and designated a terrorist organization by many Western nations recognizes Israel and renounces violence.

But Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, Andrei Denisov, told the Russian daily Izvestia earlier this week that cutting off international aid to the Palestinians would be "counterproductive."

"In history there are many examples of radicals coming to power and adopting a more realistic and constructive stance," Denisov was quoted as saying. "We all hope that Hamas will show sense."

Palestinian moderates like President Mahmoud Abbas say Hamas must renounce violence if it wants to form the next government, reports Berger.

Palestinian analyst Wadia Abu Nasser sees a power struggle within the Palestinian Authority.

"I believe that we will witness in the coming months almost daily struggle between the presidency of the P.A., meaning President Mahmoud Abbas, and the Palestinian Cabinet and parliament led by Hamas."

So far, Hamas has rejected demands to renounce violence, and acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has ruled out talks with Hamas until it does so, recognizes Israel's right to exist and accepts past agreements between Israel and the Palestinians.

A Western diplomat said Thursday that the Russians had promised to deliver "a very straight and direct message in keeping with the quartet framework."

Russia's failure to designate Hamas as a terrorist organization has raised questions of double standards, considering its insistence that no negotiations be held with Chechen militants. Israel's Foreign Ministry has distributed frame-grabs from videos that allegedly prove not only a shared commitment to violence between Hamas and the Chechens, but also Hamas support for the rebels who have been fighting Russian forces for more than a decade.

Interfax quoted Kalugin as saying that Russia's Foreign Ministry "knows nothing" about Hamas support for Chechen militants.

Hamas' apparent choice for prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, accused Israel of inflicting collective punishment with its planned economic sanctions and said that "our people will not ... kneel before such Israeli measures."

The restrictions also include keeping Gazan exports out of Israel, the main market for Palestinian goods, and sharply curtailing imports into Gaza, said Shlomo Dror, spokesman for unit of the military that administers the West Bank.

Also Friday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said that any Russian weapons supplies to the Palestinians must be agreed with Israel and transported through Israeli territory.