Israel Refuses Russian Call to Include Hamas in Peace Process

May 18, 2010

by: Joshua Spurlock

The Foreign Ministry statement drew a link between Hamas’ terrorism and the Chechen terrorism that has afflicted Russia, saying Hamas leader Mashal is the same as a former Chechen leader. Said the statement, “It is totally unacceptable for enlightened nations to divide terrorists into ‘good’ and ‘bad’ according to some geographical division. Terrorists are terrorists, and Israel does not see any difference between the Hamas terror operating against Israel and the Chechen terror operating against Russia. There is no difference between Khaled Mashal and [former Chechen leader] Shamil Basayev.

Continued the statement, “Israel has always stood behind Russia in its fight against Chechen terrorism and we expect similar treatment in the case of Hamas terrorism against Israel.” Israel wasn’t the only nation to critique aspects of the Russian trip, with the US commenting on Russia and Syria mentioning cooperation in nuclear energy. While avoiding saying anything negative about Russia, the US expressed concern about the general concept of helping Syria acquire nuclear power plants, according to the State Department Web site.

Though Syria is a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), they attempted to build a secret nuclear power plant a few years ago, which was subsequently destroyed, reportedly by Israel.

When asked about Russia and Syria discussing nuclear cooperation, American spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters, “All members [of the NPT] have rights, but all members also have responsibilities. What concerns us is Syria has not answered questions that have been raised about its compliance with the NPT, and all countries that contemplate energy cooperation [with them] need to take that into account.”

Posted on May 18, 2010

Source: BFP Israel Mosaic Radio, May 16, 2010