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Hamas expecting no conditions on talks in Moscow
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-12 15:58 On Sunday, Livni urged the international community to stand firm against
Hamas, which has killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings.
"The Russian position is currently not accepted in the international
community," Livni told Israel Radio. "Part of the danger is going down the
slippery slope of first talking, then starting to understand why, then
supporting with money, then granting legitimacy. This is a phenomenon that needs
to be acted against."
With Hamas issuing mixed messages about the future of its military
activities, Livni cautioned the world against accepting vague Hamas statements.
"There is no negotiation here with Hamas about what it will and will not agree
to," she said. "The conditions here are very clear, the situation is black and
white."
Hamas, while adhering to its violent ideology, has voiced willingness to
agree to a long-term truce if Israel would reciprocate. Hamas has largely
honored a year-old cease-fire.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov has invited his Israeli counterpart,
Shaul Mofaz, to visit Russia to make Israel's views known, but Mofaz hasn't
decided whether to accept the invitation, the Israeli Defense Ministry said
Sunday. The two men met on Saturday on the sidelines of a NATO meeting.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier is due to arrive in Israel on
Sunday for talks on relations between Israel and the Palesitnians after Hamas'
election victory, and to discuss Iran's nuclear program.
In other news Sunday, Israel reopened the vital Erez crossing between Gaza
and Israel, the military said. The crossing, used by Palestinian workers to
reach jobs in Israel that support thousands of families, was closed after armed
Palestinians attacked it on Thursday.
On Saturday, meanwhile, a shadowy Palestinian militant group released an
Egyptian diplomat kidnapped earlier in the week at gunpoint. Officials said
Hussam Almousaly, Egypt's military attache to the Palestinian Authority, was
unharmed.
The abduction, carried out in broad daylight, underscored the lawlessness
plaguing Gaza in the wake of Israel's withdrawal last September. Egypt, a key
ally of the Palestinians, has been trying to broker the formation of a new
Palestinian government following the Hamas election victory.
All major Palestinian militant groups, including those who have carried out
previous kidnappings, condemned the abduction.
"Despite the happy ending of the release of the Egyptian diplomat, there are
people who are asking what are the reasons behind such incidents," Suleiman
Awad, a spokesman for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, said Saturday. "Although
Abu Mazen (Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas) is doing his best to contain this
disorder, it is time that all Palestinian factions cooperate with the
Palestinian Authority and its president."
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