Hamas wants to go to Moscow

Palestinian Foreign Minister seeks safe transit

Vremya Novostei learned that one of the leaders of the Islamic Resistance Movement, better known by its acronym Hamas, was going to Moscow. True, Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahhar (pictured) planned to visit the Russian capital while passing through. He was invited to an international conference in Venezuela. The minister was supposed to fly out from Egypt. The Palestinian Authority has no air connections with the outside world, so Palestinians first travel by road to any neighboring country.

Mahmoud Zahkhar was expected in Moscow yesterday, but late in the evening VN learned that the Israelis had closed the autonomy’s border with Egypt to travel. This means that a Palestinian may not get to Cairo, Moscow, or even Caracas.

Initially, it was assumed that the Palestinian would spend only five to six hours in Moscow, taking into account the transfer from Domodedovo to Sheremetyevo-2. For the necessary transit, the Russian capital was the safest stop, because in the European Union the leader of Hamas could be subject to arrest.

It would seem nothing special, but in Israel, whose special services have repeatedly tried to kill 63-year-old Mahmoud Zahkhar, according to our data, they were wary of his plans to visit Moscow. Israelis, unlike Russians, call Hamas a “terrorist” organization and are sensitive to its contacts with the outside world. The United States and the European Union do not maintain relations with this Islamic group, and Russia was previously cautious, until in March 2006 it officially invited a delegation from Hamas, headed by the head of the Politburo Khaled Meshal, to visit Moscow.

That visit, which immediately followed the movement’s resounding victory in the parliamentary elections, caused a lot of noise, especially since the visitors were received by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (by the way, he is currently on a visit to Afghanistan, so even if Mr. Zahkhar comes, then she won’t be able to see him). The maximum a Palestinian could hope for is the level of director of the Middle East and North Africa Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

High-ranking Russian officials admitted to VN that Moscow does not have leverage over the ruling Hamas group in Palestine, which was manifested in the so far unsuccessful attempt to mediate in the release of Israeli corporal Gilad Shalit, captured by Palestinians last summer in the Gaza Strip. However, Moscow’s special position allows it to trump its preserved relations with Hamas over other international mediators included in the Middle East settlement quartet (in addition to Russia, this also includes the UN, the European Union and the United States).

The Middle East quartet at the level of heads of foreign affairs agencies will meet just next week, on February 2, in New York (Sergei Lavrov will represent Russia). Of the four, Moscow, which proposed assembling a quartet at the end of last year, is the most actively in favor of meeting as often as possible. As Russian President Vladimir Putin recently said, the upcoming meeting will help “bring closer a comprehensive solution to establishing lasting peace in the Middle East region.”

Elena SUPONINA