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| Russia’s new political investment
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Russia's President Vladimir Putin
Photo: The Kremlin
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Last week, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin caused mixed reactions after he invited Hamas leaders for an official diplomatic visit to Moscow, following the group’s victory in the last Palestinian legislative elections.
A delegation of the Palestinian movement will visit Russia in early March, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
"An agreement has been reached for the Hamas delegation to visit Moscow in the beginning of March 2006," the statement said.
Furthermore, a decision to sell arms to the Palestinian Authority may be made after negotiations with Hamas leaders in Moscow, Chief of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff, Yury Baluyevsky told the press on Thursday.
"This decision [on deliveries of military hardware] should be taken jointly with the new Palestinian administration," he said.
Russia’s new oriental political investment brings us back to the cold war era, according to several commentators, when the USSR and the USA where competing for geopolitical influence in the region.
Growing role
“The Palestinian authorities are interested in political support from Russia, taking into account Moscow's important role in the Middle East peace process,” former Palestinian ambassador in Moscow Khairi Al-Oridi said.
"Material help [from Russia] is possible, but this is of secondary importance, it is Moscow's political position that is of primary importance to us," Al-Oridi added.
"Russia has a large and significant role in the Palestinian-Israeli peace process," al-Oridi said. "This part keeps growing," Al-Oridi said. "It is important that Russia has friendly relations with both Palestine and Israel," he said.
On Wednesday, a member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council and experienced diplomat Baker Abdel Minam, 63, has become the new Palestinian ambassador to Moscow. Minam earlier acted as the Palestinian envoy to Japan and Canada.
A recent poll showed that almost half of Russian citizens (47%) are following the situation in Israel and Palestine. Twelve percent of those polled side with Israel, while 6% side with Palestine. But most of those surveyed (66%) are neutral.
Forty-five percent of those surveyed were informed of Israel's pullout from Gaza, which was extensively covered in the Russian press, and 34% "heard something" about the pullout.
Jews oppose negotiations
Some of the leaders of Russia’s Jewish community have said they strongly oppose eventual negotiations between their government and the new Palestinian leadership. “There is no way to negotiate with those who don't want you to exist at all,” Russia's chief rabbi Berel Lazar, told the Russian news agency Interfax in a recent interview.
“A year ago, in exactly the same way, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected Iran's President, although his militant speeches are no different from those of Hamas. In fact, Iran was the first country to express support for terrorists coming to power in the Palestinian Autonomy,” Lazar said.
“The Palestinians have brought to power a group, which is not only incapable of living in peace with Israel, but also repeatedly advocates terror,” he added.
Russia has nevertheless decided to delay a delivery of military hardware to the Palestinian security forces.
"It would have been short-sighted to supply armoured personnel carriers to Palestine bearing in mind the recent Hamas victory in parliamentary situations and the current state of Middle Eastern affairs, so we will take a break," a Moscow source told Interfax.
The timeframe of the delivery of armoured personnel carriers to Palestinian law enforcers will depend on relations between Palestine and Israel, the source said.
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