The United States is still holding out, but stopped short of condemning the decision of Russian President Vladimir Putin to invite a Hamas delegation to Moscow. "Certainly, we are not going to have any contact with a terrorist organization. But as for each state, they are going to have to make that sovereign decision," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
Earlier in the week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, together with the U.S., United Nations and European Union, signed a statement demanding Hamas repudiate its call for the destruction of the Jewish state. "There is a fundamental contradiction between armed groups and militia activities and the building of a democratic state. A two-state solution to the conflict requires all participants in the democratic process to renounce violence and terror, accept Israel's right to exist, and disarm," the statement said.
Then, Thursday, Russia President Vladimir Putin announced in Madrid that, "Having maintained our contacts with the organization Hamas, we intend to invite their leaders to Moscow in the near future to search for solutions. We have never considered Hamas a terrorist organization. Hamas came to power ... as a result of democratic, legitimate elections, and we must respect the choice of the Palestinian people." Last week, diplomatic sources denied there was a crisis between Israel and Russia, after Putin said Russia never considered Hamas a terrorist organization, the apparent contradiction with the Quartet stance dismissed as a lack of communication between Putin and Lavrov.
Meanwhile, Hamas has accepted the Russian invitation and displayed no signs of intentions to soften its stance.
"As a member of the Quartet, we would certainly expect that Russia would
deliver that same message," McCormack added. "If there are any future meetings between Russian officials and Hamas officials, we would expect that they would deliver that same clear, strong message [that they signed]."
Hamas representatives are reportedly visiting Latin American countries as well, though no Latin American governments have officially confirmed the visits or announced that their governments would receive Hamas leaders.
Newly-appointed Foreign Minister Tzippi Livni, on a whirlwind round of meetings with U.S. officials and members of the UN Security Council, is trying to convince others not to embrace Hamas without requiring the group to meet four conditions: that Hamas recognize Israel, disarm, accept the Road Map and abandon terrorism as a form or negotiation. Insiders report that Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's agreement to pass millions of dollars in tax monies to the Hamas-ruled Palestinian Authority is not helping Livni's case.
"Every sign of weakness and of recognition will be interpreted by Hamas as legitimizing terror," Livni told reporters Thursday.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has come out in favor of giving the Hamas a chance to prove itself to be a "partner for peace." He insisted that the election of the terror group was due to PA Arabs' desire for "a peaceful and stable and well-organized Palestine" and not a preference for Islamic fundamentalism.
Yisrael Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Lieberman called on the government to recall Israel's ambassador to Russia in response to Putin's decision to invite Hamas to visit his country.
Housing Minister Zeev Boim told the Yediot Aharonot newspaper that the Russian president is showing a blatant double standard. "On the one hand, he is fighting the Chechen Muslim rebels, who carry out terror attacks in Russia, while on the other hand, he is embracing ayatollahs in Iran and terror representatives from Gaza …One must only wonder how Putin would feel if we would recognize a state led by the Chechen rebels."
Hamas' charter contains the following statements:
* Article 13 (Peaceful Solutions, Initiatives and International Conferences) "(Peace) initiatives, the so-called peaceful solutions, and the international conferences to resolve the Palestinian problem, are all contrary to the beliefs of the Islamic Resistance Movement."
* Article 22 (The Powers which Support the Enemy) claims that Jews "stood behind the French and the Communist Revolutions…[and] establish[ed] clandestine organizations which are spreading around the world, in order to destroy societies and carry out Zionist interests," including "the Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, Lions Clubs, B'nai B'rith and the like."
* The Charter alleges that Jews took "control of the Imperialist states and made them colonize many countries" and "stood behind World War I, so as to wipe out the Islamic Caliphate."
* Article 32 (The Attempts to Isolate the Palestinian People) charges that "after Palestine, (Zionists) will covet expansion from the Nile to the Euphrates. Only when they have completed digesting the area on which they will have laid their hand, they will look forward to more expansion, etc. Their scheme has been laid out in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion."
Emboldened by the Russian move, the Meretz-Yahad Party, headed by Oslo and Geneva Initiative architect Yossi Beilin, said it would seek to open dialogue with Hamas with no preconditions. "We won't place conditions for speaking with Hamas," Beilin said. "If it wants to talk to us, we'll talk with it."
Meanwhile Hamas chief Khaled Meshal praised the Russian decision, calling it courageous.