PALESTINE - Mar 5 - Hamas Admits It Must 'Change Its Manners'.

Hamas admits it has to "change its manners" after winning Palestinian elections but shows no sign of compromise with Israel as it wrapped up a landmark trip to Russia, as acting Israeli Premier Ehud Olmert said, if elected, he will implement another unilateral withdrawal. In a speech on Mar 5 by satellite to a Washington conference of AIPAC, the pro-Israel US lobby, Olmert said Israel would not wait for an agreement to determine its borders. Israel "will take the initiative if we will find that the Palestinians are not ready, are not prepared, or not mature enough to be able to make the necessary adjustments within theelves in order to be ready for this challenge", he said. Palestinians denounced the plan. "This is another indication of Israeli policy, which ignores the existence of the Palestinian people", said Salah Bardawil, a Hamas lawmaker and spokesman for Hamas' parliamentary faction. "Once again, Israel is threatening to adopt unilateral measures that vindicate Hamas' view that there is no partner in Israel who seeks real peace, and that Israel used negotiations in previous years as a pretext to ignore and stall the granting of Palestinian rights", Bardawil said. Israel's hawkish Likud Party denounced the plan as a prize to Hamas. Meanwhile, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal wrapped up the group's first formal visit to a major power with a tour of the Kremlin and a meeting with Patriarch Alexei II, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, who called for talks with Israel. But despite the softer Hamas tone, Olmert told Russian Pres Vladimir Putin that the talks were a mistake which would only encourage radical Islamists bent on the destruction of the Jewish state. "Russia's contacts with Hamas would only encourage the organization not to make the changes that the international community is demanding of it in order for it to become a partner for dialogue", Olmert's office said he told Putin in a phone call. After three days of insisting that the next move in the conflict was up to Israel, Hamas leaders sought to sweeten their rhetoric Mar 5 while still rebuffing calls to recognise Israel and renounce violence. "Hamas must change its manners. We know that very well", senior Hamas official Mohammad Nazzal said. "But what we are saying is that we want a response from the Israelis. If you want Hamas to change its policies, you must also request that the Israelis change their policies". Hamas officials described their visit to Russia as a "breakthrough" they hoped would help the group - listed as a terrorist organization by Israel, the US and Europe - establish legitimacy on the world stage. "This visit will encourage many countries to contact Hamas and invite Hamas to their countries", Nazzal said. Putin's invitation to Hamas to visit Moscow caught the other three members of the international Middle East "Quartet" of mediators - the US, the EU and the UN - by surprise. The high point of the trip was a meeting between the Hamas delegation and Russian FM Sergei Lavrov, who made clear after the meeting that its purpose had been to convey the Quartet's expectations of Hamas. The Quartet insists Hamas renounce violence, recognise Israel and adhere to previous agreements. Hamas meanwhile shrugged off a call from Osama bin Laden's deputy in the Al Qaeda terrorist network to abandon all accords signed by previous Palestinian leaders with Israel. "This is his own opinion", Nazzal said of the statement from Ayman Al Zawahiri broadcast on the Arabic Al Jazeera television network.