Russia sends a clear message to Israel

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov started his Middle east tour with the Palestinian autonomy. A small diplomatic scandal took place during the visit as the minister had a meeting with Yasser Arafat - the Israeli government considers this person the main inspirer of terrorist attacks. Former minister Natan Sharansky said anyone who wanted to bring Arafat back in the political life and retrieve his authority of an international political figure, was assisting in the development of terrorism. Sharansky emphasized in his interview to Echo of Moscow radio station: "It is a great pity that Russia is reaching out a hand to Arafat, although Russia perfectly understands that it is vital to run a hard-edged struggle with terrorism and cut all ties between terror and political activities."


It seems Natan Sharansky has expressed the official position of the Israeli government regarding the meeting between Igor Ivanov and Yasser Arafat. As a result, the relations between Russia and Israel might worsen to a certain extent. Nevertheless, Israeli authorities were most likely aware of Ivanov-s plans prior to the actual visit. It is hard to suppose that the Russian foreign minister decided to have a meeting with Arafat only after he arrived in the Palestinian autonomy. Everybody is aware of Israel's attitude to Arafat: the Israeli government is doing its best to isolate Arafat and deprive him of all opportunities to affect political events.


Rest of the article:

english.pravda.ru...

Ahhh...Russia, who put in more than her share of the Holocaust...and who urges Jews in Russia to move to Israel.

Yeah...glad to see that they've made a nice unbiased decision.

It's always nice to see one nation picking who is fit to lead another independant nation, especially when their leaders are suspect. I'd like to see Sharon get snubbed by the world right along side of Arafat.

As par for the new Russian Federation aka:USSR2......they condemn but still work on joint Israeli/Russian military projects?! Contradiction none the less.

This amounts to no more than world political posturing by and from the Russians.
Case in point.......they 'posture' all the time against the US (ie: veto of Iraq vote for war) but continue to eagerly await those billions that the US gives them....is that kssing the hand that feeds ya or is that biting the hand that feeds ya........?!?
Political posturing...nothing more.

regards
seekerof

[Edited on 18-7-2003 by Seekerof]