Official dismisses idea Russia trying to mediate over Schalit.
By HERB KEINONmashaal marches 311(photo credit: AP)
Israeli officials on Tuesday dismissed the notion that the Kremlin invited Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal to Moscow a week before the arrival of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to try to mediate between the two over a deal for kidnapped soldier Gilad Schalit.“This is what they [the Russians] always say when they want to justify their contacts with Hamas,” one government official said. “But there is a German negotiator involved, and he is the only one right now. I’m not sure we need another, and no one has agreed to Russian involvement.”The Russians, according to the official, knows how sensitive the Schalit issue is in Israel, and feel that by saying they are using their contacts with Hamas to facilitate a Hamas deal, they will temper objections in Israel.If that is Moscow’s policy, however, it is not having the intended results. Pini Avivi, the Foreign Minister’s deputy-director for Central Europe and Eurasia, met with the Russian Ambassador Peter Stegny this week for a preparatory meeting to Netanyahu’s visit, and expressed Israel’s displeasure with the Mashaal visit and Russia’s continued contacts with Hamas.An official said the Mashaal’s visit would not cast a shadow over theNetanyahu visit simply because Israel was not interested in making anissue over it and antagonizing the Russians. “If it was anothercountry, like Switzerland, then our reaction might be different,” theofficial said. “But nobody wants to say anything against Russia.”Netanyahu is scheduled to leave on Sunday for three days of talks inMoscow, which this month is turning into a center for Middle Easterndiplomacy. Prior to Mashaal’s visit on Monday, Palestinian AuthorityPresident Mahmoud Abbas was in Moscow during the last week of January,and a week or so after Netanyahu’s visit, Moscow is expected to host ahigh level meeting of the Quartet.
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