On the same day, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates left for a visit to the Middle East. Two key members of the so-called Quartet (America, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations) are making simultaneous efforts to break the deadlock over the Middle East peace settlement.
Moscow and Washington share common aims: an independent Palestinian state and security for Israel. But their tactics differ radically, as has been brought sharply into focus these past few days during discussions of such issues as restoring Palestinian unity and U.S. President George W. Bush's idea to hold an international conference on the Middle East.
Why did Abbas come to Moscow? Officially, for words of support and humanitarian aid. But he could have gotten all that without taking the trouble of visiting. The future of Palestinian-Israeli negotiations is, tentatively, in Washington's hands, and the European Union is contributing to the Palestinian economy. As for Russia, it could act as a broker between Fatah and Hamas, whose conflict is currently one of the key problems in the area and a major obstacle to a Palestinian-Israeli settlement. This is no easy job, as the experiences of previous would-be peacemakers have shown. Even Saudi Arabia's efforts have proved futile - the agreements signed by the two sides in Mecca did not last for more than a few months.
Today, both the U.S. and Israel, taking advantage of Hamas' seizure of power in the Gaza Strip and the final rift between the rival Palestinian factions, are trying to pretend that Hamas does not exist. But it is obvious that unless Palestine's political and territorial unity is restored there cannot be an independent Palestinian state. That is Russia's starting point.
"National unity in Palestine is the main determining condition for an independent Palestinian state," said Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Denisov following the Putin-Abbas negotiations.
"We are aware of the difficult relations existing between Fatah and Hamas, and so we are asking them, what our contacts with both sides can do to benefit them," he said.
Russian diplomats said they would not interfere in internal Palestinian affairs, and did not condone Hamas, but were ready to help the two movements to find a compromise. And judging by the remarks made by Abbas in Moscow, such a compromise is possible. In an interview with the Nezavisimaya Gazeta newspaper, the Palestinian president said relations with Hamas could be discussed after the movement renounced its coup in Gaza and surrendered its results. Being a pragmatist, he does not reject the idea of dialogue with Hamas out of hand. The only questions are about preconditions for negotiation, and whether the U.S. and Israel would exert such pressure on Fatah that any talks with the Islamists would be doomed to failure before they had begun.
In this case, pro-Abbas forces would be left no other option but to declare war on Hamas. Do the Palestinians need that? In such a setting, there cannot be any talk of a Palestinian state, despite Bush's promise to resolve the issue before the end of his second term.
Moscow and Washington hold fundamentally different positions here. Russia takes a sober view of regional realities. The U.S., on the other hand, is trying to make them fit stereotypes and election campaign slogans - ignoring Hamas is not the only example. Something similar is happening with Bush's proposal to hold an international conference on the Middle East in the fall.
The idea was first mooted by President Putin in 2005, but at that time it fell flat with Israel and the United States. The difference between the Russian and American proposals is that Moscow suggested a comprehensive Arab-Israeli settlement. Washington only wishes to discuss the Palestinian question.
The American proposal has created a problem: who will attend the meeting? The U.S. does not want a Syrian presence. But can the Palestinian issue be resolved without Syria, home to large numbers of Palestinian refugees and Hamas headquarters? Then again, even if Damascus were invited, its representatives would hardly agree to discuss an agenda that did not include a Syrian-Israeli settlement. And this is just one of the minor issues connected with the meeting.
It is anyone's guess whether this conference will be held at all, and not only because of the Syrian problem. It is not clear who would represent the Palestinians - a government speaking for all influential political forces or only for some of them? Without consensus between the Palestinians, any meetings would be useless. So Moscow is pinning its hopes on Abbas' wisdom and hopes that he, as President Putin emphasized, would do his utmost to restore Palestinian unity. Otherwise nobody can help the Palestinians.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
