Mar 3 2006 7:00PM No pressure exerted while discussing 'road map' - Hamas delegation member MOSCOW. March 3 (Interfax) - Member of the Hamas Political Bureau Mohammad Nazzal said that the issues linked to the 'road map' were discussed at negotiations with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and that Russia did not exert any pressure.
The Russian authorities did not exert any pressure and the issues linked to the 'road map' [the plan of the Israeli-Palestinian peaceful settlement] were discussed, Nazzal told journalists after the negotiations at the Russian Foreign Ministry ended.
Moreover, he said that he negotiated with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Saltanov for two hours and another two hours he negotiated with Lavrov. He assessed the four-hour negotiations as constructive.
Nazzal is a member of the Hamas delegation that came to Moscow on Friday headed by deputy head of the Hamas Political Bureau Khaled Meshaal.
Mar 5 2006 3:16PM Russian patriarch urges Hamas to seek dialogue with Israel MOSCOW. March 5 (Interfax) - Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia has urged the Palestinian leadership to seek dialogue for peace.
"We are convinced that there is no alternative to a [Palestine-Israel] dialogue. A peace dialogue must be continued regardless of individual politicians - a whole nation must not suffer through the fault of individual politicians," the Russian patriarch said in Moscow to a delegation of the Hamas movement, which won the recent parliamentary elections in Palestine.
Alexy II said he hoped dialogue between Christians and Muslims will go on in Palestine.
"We have always supported the UN in that both Israel and Palestine can coexist in the Middle East. We have also backed the Palestinians' right to a state of their own," Alexy II said.
The Russian patriarch pointed out that Palestine has always been a special place for the Russian people. "Russian pilgrims visited Palestine to bow to the sacred Biblical places and there are Orthodox monasteries in Hevron and Jericho," he said.
By agreement with late Yasser Arafat, the Russian Orthodox Church has built an inn for pilgrims in Bethlehem, the patriarch added.
"Palestine, the Holy Land, has been a venue where the three Abrahamic religions - Christianity, Islam and Judaism--have always engaged in dialogue," Alexy II said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mar 4 2006 3:01PM Hamas happy with talks with Russia's chief mufti (Part 2) MOSCOW. March 4 (Interfax) - A delegation of the Palestinian movement Hamas, which is on a visit to Moscow, said it was satisfied with a meeting with Russian Council of Muftis chief Ravil Gainutdin and supported the Russian leadership's intention to foster open relations with the Muslim world.
"We are satisfied with the meeting with the mufti. We were able to exchange constructive opinions. The conversation was positive on all sides," Hamas political leader Khaled Mashaal said at a press conference at the Moscow central mosque following a meeting with Gainutdin on Saturday.
Hamas supports "Russia's intention to arrange open relations with the Arab-Islamic world," Mashaal said. "Russia, which occupies a territory spanning Europe and Asia, is best poised to sponsor a dialogue between civilizations and to ensure a balance of forces in the world," he said.
Hamas's position is that "peace should be based on justice," he said.
"This should be a true peace, which leads to the end of occupation and aggression, to the return of refugees to their homes, to the destruction of the dividing wall, and the establishment of a political status for East Jerusalem," Mashaal said.
"Israel must do this, and only then can peace be achieved," he said.
"It is Israel that must recognize Palestine's rights," Mashaal said. "We cannot believe in empty statements, twiddle our thumbs and watch our children getting killed. Israel must end occupation and aggression, and our actions won't take much longer after that," he said.
Mar 3 2006 12:44PM Ministry denies discussing Hamas delegation's safety with Israel MOSCOW. March 3 (Interfax) - Reports alleging that Russia and Israel discussed security for the Hamas delegation's flight to Moscow are unfounded, Alexander Kalugin, the Russian Foreign Minister's special envoy to the Middle East, said.
"This is all nonsense," he told Interfax on Friday.
Arab mass media reported earlier, quoting a Hamas source, that Israel had given Russia guarantees that the aircraft carrying the Hamas delegation and its political head Khaled Meshaal will not be shot down.
The Israeli embassy in Moscow has refused to comment on the report.
Mar 3 2006 12:18PM Hamas favors further peace talks - Meshaal MOSCOW. March 3 (Interfax) - The Palestinian movement Hamas, which won the recent elections to the Palestinian parliament, wants peace negotiations to continue and accuses Israel of 'freezing' the diplomatic Quartet's road map in order to implement Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan.
"Israel itself put a freeze on the road map to go ahead with Sharon's idea," Hamas political chief Khaled Meshaal told journalists in Moscow on Friday.
Israel has complaints regarding 14 points of the peace plan, he said. "It was Israel, not [the Palestinian authorities], that put the road map on hold. We [Hamas] stand for peace and further talks," he said.
Meshaal said he hopes for an open exchange of views during his delegation's talks with Russian officials in Moscow.
"We expect an exchange of opinions to take place and hope that nobody will put forward any conditions," he said.
The Hamas delegation to Moscow includes Meshaal, his deputy and another four political bureau members.
Nu, zayats, pogodi!
__________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com