President Putin's offer to intermediate in the dispute between Hamas and the West has provoked fury among Israeli politicians who have accused Russia of "dancing with wolves".

Unlike Europe and the United States, the Kremlin does not regard Hamas as a terrorist organisation and had some diplomatic ties with the group during the Cold War.

But Mr Putin's invitation to Hamas leaders - who are attempting to assemble an acceptable Palestinian government following their landslide victory last month - triggered an angry response from Israelis.

Europe, the US and the United Nations - the other three members of the Quartet that is negotiating the "road map" peace deal - have decided not to deal with Hamas until it formally renounces violence and publicly drops its commitment to the destruction of Israel.

Meir Sheetrit, a Cabinet minister from Ariel Sharon's centrist Kadima Party, told the Associated Press that Mr Putin’s remarks were an "international scandal" that amounted to "stabbing Israel in the back."

Drawing a comparison to the separatist Muslims who have been fighting Russia for the past 12 years, he said: "I believe he would feel very bad if Israel were to invite the Chechen organisations of terror into Israel and give them legitimacy."

Politicians across the political spectrum echoed his criticisms and said that the invitation gave a veneer of legitimacy to a terror organisation which has killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings in recent years.

Avigdor Lieberman, leader of Yisrael Beiteinu, a hardline party representing Russian immigrants, said that Israel should recall its ambassador from Moscow for consultations. "This is an attempt to appease the Muslim world at our expense," he told Israel Radio.

Yossi Beilin, a liberal politician, said that Israel should summon Russia’s ambassador to convey displeasure over the implicit endorsement of Hamas, but should stop short of initiating a diplomatic rift with Russia.

Zeev Boim, the Housing Minister, warned: "Putin is dancing with wolves,"

Israeli newspapers were united in their condemnation, with headlines from "Putin stuck a knife in our back" to "Putin is spitting in our face."

Sever Plotzker, a columnist for Yediot Ahronot, called Mr Putin’s outreach to Hamas "a bloody pact," and said Russia should have learned from its past mistakes.

Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas's leader in Gaza, praised the Russian President - whose country holds the presidency of the G8 - for offering the invitation and rejected the Israeli concerns.

"We think countries in power can decide for themselves what kinds of positions and policies they can take," he said.

Igor Ivanov, the Russian Foreign Minister, said that although Russia did not condone Hamas radical ideology, it accepted that it had been democratically elected.

"Hamas is in power, this is a fact," he told reporters in Taormina, Sicily, where Nato defence ministers were meeting.

Denis Simonneau, a spokesman for the French Foreign Ministry, said he was concerned that Russia did not consult its international partners about the initiative.

But he remained optimistic that it could provide a way out of the diplomatic impasse which threatens to strangle Hamas's relationship with the West at birth.

"We share with Russia the goal of leading Hamas toward positions that would allow for the goal of two states living in peace and security to be reached," he said.

Israel has a complex history with Russia, and its earlier incarnation as the Soviet Union. The Soviet empire supported Israel in its early years, but relations soon deteriorated and eventually collapsed as Israel increasingly allied itself with the United States.

Moscow cut ties with Israel in 1967 and strongly backed the Arab states in their skirmishes with the West. In many of its wars with its Arab neighbours, Israel found itself facing Soviet-trained pilots flying Soviet MiG fighter jets. The Kremlin also barred Russian Jews from leaving, jailing many who demanded the right to move to Israel.

As the Soviet Union was collapsing in the early 1990s, the two nations restored ties, and relations warmed as Moscow loosened its restrictions, prompting more than a million Russian speakers to move to emigrate.

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