 WASHINGTON - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday that talks with Russian leaders had yielded a pledge from Moscow to demand that Hamas recognize Israel and disarm its militia.
| There, that oughta do it. |
Appearing on CBS' "Face the Nation," Rice emphasized the importance of sending a "consistent" message to Hamas and pointed out, as she did several times last week, that Russia had agreed to the Quartet statement drafted in London three weeks ago. The statement stipulated that a Palestinian government must recognize Israel's right to exist, disavow violence and accept previous agreements aimed at a two-state solution.
"The Russians make the point that they, unlike us, have not listed Hamas as a terrorist organization. Let me be very clear: Hamas is a terrorist organization for us and for the European Union," Rice said. "The Russians assure us, after President Putin's comments, that anything that they say to Hamas will simply be to reinforce that message."
| And if you can't believe Vladimir Putin, who can you believe? |
The secretary of state went on to say that "the Russians have decided on their own course, that perhaps it would be helpful for them to have contact with Hamas because they don't recognize it as a terrorist organization. What we're concentrating on is making certain that the message to Hamas is a consistent one, and that message simply has to be that the right to Israel exist cannot be in question." |