THE SPORTING RUSSIANS

Palestine's Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar has confirmed that his Minstry's policy is to establish a Palestinian state in place of Israel from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea and that the Jewish State is an 'abomination' which Hamas will never recognize.

"If we can form a state within the 1967 borders we will do so, but this doesn't mean that we will relinquish our right to every centimeter of Palestine's land," he told a rally in Gaza on Friday.

Among the key requirements which the Road Map to Peace in the Middle East (sponsored by the quartet of international mediators including the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia) places on the Palestinians is the recognition of Israel, the denunciation of violence against it and the acceptance of all existing agreements between Israel and the Palestine Authority.

Now, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says that it is unrealistic for the international community to expect the Hamas government to fully accept the quartet's conditions at present, and that the Palestinian movement should be given more time to honour them.

In other words, the Russians are prepared to give Hamas and the other Palestinian armed groups a free rein for the time being to build up their weaponry, to continue their murderous attacks on Israelis including the daily firing of quassam missiles into Israeli towns and to maintain the constant stream of incitement and the call to "kill Jews everywhere" in the PA's official media.

But how much time does the word "never" as used by the Palestinian Foreign Minister encompass?

If nothing else, the comments of his Russian counterpart prove that Russian civilization has moved very slowly since the time when starting a pogrom against the Jews was the national sport.

And with the encouragement of the Russians, it's likely that the Palestinian advance from their current parlous situation will move at a similar pace.