Russia Calls To Lift Blockade Against Hamas Government
Four days before the Quartet is scheduled to meet in Washington and discuss ways to "re-energize" the road map, a top Russian diplomat called on Tuesday for the lifting the international blockade of the Hamas-led Palestinian government, the Interfax news agency reported.

According to the report, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Saltanov said that Moscow would use the Quartet meeting to urge the lifting of economic sanctions on the PA.

"Russia has always argued against the blockade and we expect the Quartet to listen to our view," Interfax quoted him as saying. The Quartet is made up of the US, European Union, Russia and the UN.

Both US and European diplomatic officials have told The Jerusalem Post in recent days that there was no intention in Washington or Brussels to favor watering down the three criteria that the international community has set for granting legitimacy to the PA government: forswearing terrorism, recognizing Israel, and accepting previous Palestinian-Israeli agreements.

A senior Israeli diplomatic official said that there was no reason now to change the three principles, certainly after a Hamas spokesman said within hours of the Eilat suicide attack on Monday that it was a "legitimate response" to Israeli policies.

Russia disappointed Jerusalem last year by hosting Hamas leaders in Moscow soon after the Palestinian Legislative elections, but made no progress in persuading the group to change its positions.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in a related matter, said over the weekend that Iran and Syria should be included in any regional peace initiatives.

"It is my deep conviction that Iran and Syria should not be isolated and must be involved in the settlement process," Lavrov was quoted as saying by Interfax. This position is contrary to both the positions in Washington and Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin announced Tuesday that President Vladimir Putin will travel to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan next week.

The Russian leader will visit Saudi Arabia at the invitation of Saudi King Abdullah on February 11-12. Putin will fly to Qatar for meetings with Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani on February 12 before heading to Amman for talks with Jordan's King Abdullah II, the Kremlin said in a statement.

This will be Putin's first trip to any of those countries, and comes as Moscow has stepped up its military and trade ties with the Arab world, including the delivering of state-of-the-art weapons systems to Syria and Iran.

Israeli officials downplayed the regional importance of Putin's planned visit, saying that Putin was trying to balance the many visits in recent months by Arab leaders to Moscow. Putin paid a state visit to Israel in 2005.

Meanwhile, a report issued by Britain's Parliament on Tuesday said that the West's isolation of Hamas had caused the group to strengthen its ties with Iran.

According to the report, the international community had created a "dangerous situation" in which the Palestinian Authority was not responsible for its citizens. The report also called the current situation in the PA "unstable" and warned that the Western nations' refusal to talk with Hamas could have "negative results," Army Radio reported.