In Moscow, Hamas firm on refusal to recognize Israel

[Behind the Aegis]

MOSCOW - Hamas officials arrived in Russia for first talks with a major foreign power on Friday but poured cold water on hopes of a peace breakthrough by saying they were firm in their refusal to recognize Israel.

"The issue of recognition is a done issue. We are not going to recognize Israel," Mohammed Nazzal, a senior official accompanying the group's political leader Khaled Meshal, told reporters after their delegation arrived in Moscow.

Although it deals a blow to U.S.-led efforts to isolate Hamas since it swept Palestinian elections in January, Russia's mediation is seen by some in the West as a chance to press the group into embracing more moderate views.

Russia has said that, in talks slated for later on Friday, it would endorse the view of fellow patrons of the road map to Israeli-Palestinian coexistence that Hamas must recognize Israel, renounce violence, and accept past peace accords.

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