Russia with paws open towards Hamas

Hamas leader Khaled Mashal met with Russian Foreign Secretary Sergey Lavrov in Moscow last week.

Week end comment

By Mike Adams

Speculations that Mashal would obtain an audience with Russia’s power twins were quickly brushed aside. So there was no bear hug from President Medvedev or Prime Minister Putin this time either. This was Mashal’s third visit to the Russian capital since 2006.

Russia-Hamas talks began in March 2006 with Lavrov meeting with Mashal to discuss the bog downed peace process between the Israelis and Palestinian Arabs. Prior to these particular talks President Putin had said that he did not consider Hamas to be a terrorist organisation. Hamas was, in his opinion, apolitical.

Khaled Mashal’s formal title is Chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau. Hardly apolitical. Putin has put Hamas in the same category as royalty where kings and queens are naturally apolitical figures. Collins English Dictionary defines “apolitical” as “politically neutral; without political attitudes, content, or bias”. Anyway, Putin maintains that the apolitical Hamas won the Palestinian elections in January 2006, fair and square.
Fast forward to January 2009, the world saw Russia sending 60 tons of tents, medicines and food to Gaza during Operation Cast Lead. President Medvedev publicly ordered extra humanitarian aid to the civilian population. Honey offered to the golden jackals of Hamas in Damascus by the outstretched paws of the brown bear in Moscow was nothing short of a PR stunt. The Russians expect something in return so as to exert some real influence in solving the Middle East conflict, and as Lavrov says “assist Palestine in all ways” to establish an independent state. Weaponry and military knowhow is more typical of Russian aid than charitable contributions.

Hamas has been adamant in not recognising Israel or her right to exist, underscoring the fact by targeting Israeli civilians with thousands of missiles and rockets shot out of Gaza the past few years. The Russian bear has recently been huffing in trying to woo the Palestinian jackals to soften their tone. Last month, Mashal met with Lavrov in Syria, after which Lavrov said that the Hamas had adopted a more realistic approach since Operation Cast Lead in December 2008. But in a statement made during his latest visit in Moscow, Mashal said that he sees no prospects for a Middle East peace settlement, telling reporters that Israel’s continued military offensives and occupation made such an agreement impossible.
I would like to remind my readers that Israel hasn’t “occupied” Gaza since September 2005, and that IDF is only responding to military aggression from Hamas.

Lavrov has obviously tried to impress upon Mashal the importance of Hamas getting along with their political opponents in Fatah. If the two Palestinian factions get together and decide to resume peace talks with the Israelis, the Russians have promised to convene an International Middle East Conference in Moscow. Russia also wants to kick-start Soviet-style, post-colonial assistance to as many Middle East regimes as it sees fit. Like in the good old days. Sponsoring world-threatening freedom fighters is all part of a long-established Russian tradition.
In a sly attempt at double communication Mashal downplayed Moscow’s political role in future peace talks by stating the following before leaving Moscow: “We appreciate any role that Russia and other countries could play in the Middle East peace process, but only Egypt has the real capability to settle the problem”.

It seems to me that Mashal and his terrorist accomplices in Syria are playing a strange sort of mind game. But come think of it, the bear and the jackal are stealthy and fiercely territorial creatures. The Israeli “carcass” is for the Russian and Palestinian animals of prey a prize not to be taken lightly. They’ve got a stake in The Holy Land which no national or international player can take away from them. So they presume. But we who have read The Book know that Rosh and uncircumcised Philistines will ultimately cringe when the Lion of Judah enters the scene and puts an end to their barks and growls.