Israel pushes Hamas links to Chechen cause -source
JERUSALEM, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Outraged by Russian overtures to Hamas, Israel has told its diplomats to play up alleged ties between the Palestinian militants and Chechens fighting to secede from Moscow, Israeli political sources said on Monday.
They said Israeli embassies in Russia and elsewhere were provided information pamphlets linking Hamas and Chechen causes after Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week he wanted to invite leaders of the Islamic group to visit.
Putin's move raised hackles in Israel and the United States by challenging their campaign to isolate Hamas, which won Palestinian legislative elections last month, until it renounces violence and recognises the Jewish state's right to exist.
"The idea is to show the Russians and others that there is no difference between Hamas terrorism and Chechen terrorism," said a political source who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Hamas denies having any links to the Chechen separatists.
"It is widely known that Hamas does not intervene in the internal affairs of other sovereign countries," said group spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri. "Attempts by Israel to isolate Hamas internationally, politically and economically have failed."
Russia has been fighting a Chechen insurgency since 1994 when it sent troops into the southern province to quell what later became an Islamist-led bid for independence. It says it is confronting mercenaries financed by "international terrorism".
The rebels say fighters from outside Russia are among them, but there has been no mention of Palestinian involvement.
Israel's Foreign Ministry denied that there was an official campaign under way to publicise any Hamas-Chechen links.
But a ministry official said a paper on the issue, compiled by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, an Israeli think-tank, had been informally circulated among envoys.
That document cites posters celebrating Hamas and Chechen leaders as Islamic warriors, which it said were distributed by the Palestinian militant group at West Bank universities and an orphanage in 2004 and later seized by Israeli troops.
No military or financial cooperation is alleged.
Hamas suicide bombings helped spearhead a Palestinian revolt that erupted in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip in 2000. Asked if his group supported the Chechen cause in principle, Abu Zuhri declined comment.
Putin has said that, unlike the United States and European Union, Russia does not consider Hamas a terrorist organisation. (Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza and Christian Lowe in Moscow)
They said Israeli embassies in Russia and elsewhere were provided information pamphlets linking Hamas and Chechen causes after Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week he wanted to invite leaders of the Islamic group to visit.
Putin's move raised hackles in Israel and the United States by challenging their campaign to isolate Hamas, which won Palestinian legislative elections last month, until it renounces violence and recognises the Jewish state's right to exist.
"The idea is to show the Russians and others that there is no difference between Hamas terrorism and Chechen terrorism," said a political source who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Hamas denies having any links to the Chechen separatists.
"It is widely known that Hamas does not intervene in the internal affairs of other sovereign countries," said group spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri. "Attempts by Israel to isolate Hamas internationally, politically and economically have failed."
Russia has been fighting a Chechen insurgency since 1994 when it sent troops into the southern province to quell what later became an Islamist-led bid for independence. It says it is confronting mercenaries financed by "international terrorism".
The rebels say fighters from outside Russia are among them, but there has been no mention of Palestinian involvement.
Israel's Foreign Ministry denied that there was an official campaign under way to publicise any Hamas-Chechen links.
But a ministry official said a paper on the issue, compiled by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, an Israeli think-tank, had been informally circulated among envoys.
That document cites posters celebrating Hamas and Chechen leaders as Islamic warriors, which it said were distributed by the Palestinian militant group at West Bank universities and an orphanage in 2004 and later seized by Israeli troops.
No military or financial cooperation is alleged.
Hamas suicide bombings helped spearhead a Palestinian revolt that erupted in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip in 2000. Asked if his group supported the Chechen cause in principle, Abu Zuhri declined comment.
Putin has said that, unlike the United States and European Union, Russia does not consider Hamas a terrorist organisation. (Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza and Christian Lowe in Moscow)
posted by Marko at 2/13/2006 08:36:00 AM
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