The leadership Hamas is in Russia meeting with a wide variety of politicians, business people and religious figures. This is the beginning of the transformation of Hamas from an extremist group to a more normal, governing body. The indications are that Hamas is indeed prepared to reach some sort of accommodation with Israel, as can be seen from the Agence France Presse story below. The story is dated Friday February 3rd, 2006.

Hamas will not reach peace with Israel until the Jewish state withdraws from Palestinian territory it occupied in 1967, the radical movement’s leader said after landmark first talks with a world power.

Khaled Meshaal said that only if Israel declared its readiness to pull out of occupied land, return refugees, break down the security fence and free all prisoners, “then our side will take serious steps toward securing peace.”
He made it clear he was in no rush to enter any kind of talks with Israel, which considers the group a terrorist organization, and hinted that Hamas was in no mood to end its armed struggle.

Meshaal’s comments came after talks in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that marked the Hamas leader’s most high-profile appearance yet on the international stage.

It follows the movement’s stunning Palestinian election victory in January and as it prepares to form its first government despite being isolated on the international stage for refusing to recognize Israel’s right to exist.

The visit was held under intense security — at Meshaal’s press conference, eight bodyguards wearing black trenchcoats stood on the platform directly him and his Hamas colleagues.

The delegation had earlier been given the rare protection of elite Kremlin secret service personnel, a measure usually only accorded top dignitaries.
Lavrov told Hamas it had to respect the views laid down by the Middle East quartet of mediators — Russia, the United States, the European Union and the United Nations

“That means above all the need to stick by all existing agreements, the need to recognize the right of Israel to exist as a partner in negotiations, (and) the need to reject all armed methods of settling political questions,” Interfax quoted him as saying.

But Meshaal said Israel bore the blame for the Middle East impasse and had “always turned away from its responsibilities.”

Asked about a truce Hamas has largely observed over the past year, he said Israel “has not stopped its aggression” and, “for that reason, we have not got a special interest or enthusiasm in that kind of ceasefire.”

Earlier, Meshaal had told AFP his group was ready to “move forward” in its relations with Israel. “Hamas is fully ready to go forward as much as this is possible. Everything now depends on Israel’s policies,” he said.

The group is regarded as a terrorist group by the United States and Europe but not by Russia. As well as refusing to recognize Israel, Hamas has claimed responsibility for dozens of suicide bombings against Israeli targets.
Meshaal told reporters that he wanted to use the invitation to Moscow as a springboard for wider dialogue.

“Cooperation with the international community is important for us and we regard our visit to Moscow, the capital of a great power, as the beginning of this type of contact,” he said after arriving in the Russian capital.

Putin caught the other members of the quartet by surprise when he invited Hamas leaders to Moscow.

Lavrov and other senior Russian officials have stressed the invitation was designed to underline to Hamas the need to align itself with the principles of the quarter trying to broker peace.

Israeli officials have described Putin’s invitation to Hamas as a “knife in the back,” although the Europeans have signalled the talks could be useful in breaking the impasse.

The United States, however, said Thursday its strategy continued to be to isolate Hamas financially and to try to make it “enormously difficult” for the radical group to govern.