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Senior officials in the Foreign Ministry were furious on Sunday over the news that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met Hamas leader Khaled Meshal in Damascus.
Lavrov said on Saturday that Russia believes in the need to maintain contacts with Hamas despite a cooling of ties between the two sides.
Officials in Jerusalem said one of the reasons for their displeasure stems from the fact that Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is due in Moscow next week for his first visit, which is aimed at beginning talks on upgrading strategic relations between the two countries.
 | Advertisement | | | Foreign Ministry officials held meetings early Sunday morning in an effort to formulate a diplomatic response to the Lavrov-Meshal meeting. In all likelihood, Israel will issue an official condemnation.
"We are certain that this is needed," Interfax news agency quoted Lavrov as saying after meeting Meshal in the Syrian capital, where he lives in exile. Lavrov's comments following his meeting with Meshal aroused further antagonism in Jerusalem.
Diplomats in Damascus said new Middle East peace moves by U.S. President Barack Obama may have helped spur the meeting between Lavrov and Meshaal after tension between Hamas and Russia over the last few months.
Lavrov was on a brief visit to Syria to attend a foreign ministers meeting of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference and meet Syrian officials.
In recent weeks, Lieberman has been critical of Russia's contacts with Hamas. The foreign minister has expressed his desire to see a significant upgrade in ties between Jerusalem and Moscow. The Lavrov-Meshal meeting now casts a heavy pall over Lieberman's trip to the Russian capital.
Russia is the only member of what is known as the Quartet of Middle East negotiators that does not boycott Hamas.
Moscow, however, has criticized Hamas for not doing what Moscow considers enough to achieve reconciliation with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah faction.
Hamas had shown little enthusiasm for Russian plans to hold a Middle East peace conference that would have been a follow-up to one organized by the United States in Annapolis, Maryland in November 2007, partly because the Palestinians would have been represented by Abbas.
The Quartet, which comprises the European Union, United Nations, Russia and the United States, wants Hamas to renounce armed struggle, recognize Israel and accept agreements concluded between the Palestinian Liberation Organization and Israel.
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