Carter meets Hamas chief Mashaal in Syria

Former US president arrives for meeting with Hamas' chief under tight security (But not Israeli security, Israel denied security to the former President and diplomat.). Carter's aides plan to hold further talks with Hamas Friday to discuss proposal for ceasefire with Israel, Shalit's release. Senior Hamas leaders from Gaza to meet Carter Saturday

News agencies
Latest Update: 04.18.08, 23:17 / Israel News

Former President Carter met Friday with the exiled leader of Hamas and the group's deputy chief, men the US government has labeled as global terrorists and Israel accuses of masterminding suicide bombings and kidnappings.

Accusation
Carter: Gaza residents 'starving to death' / News agencies
Former US president defends meetings with Hamas terrorists, tells university students in Egypt sanctions imposed on Gaza Strip are 'criminal atrocity'
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Carter's meeting with Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal followed two other meetings between the former American president and the Palestinian militant (and political) group in the Middle East this week. Hamas officials say the meetings have lent their group legitimacy.

Earlier Friday, Carter met with Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Mashaal's deputy Moussa Abu Marzouk attended the meeting with Carter at Mashaal's Damascus office.

Aides to Carter said they plan to hold a second round of talks with Hamas on Friday night to discuss proposals for a ceasefire with Israel and for the release of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, that Carter made when he met Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal.

Mohammad Nazzal, a member of the Hamas leadership, said the talks would study the details of proposals put forward by Carter in more than four hours of talks with Mashaal.

"Carter's aides and the members of Hamas' political bureau will meet to discuss the price for Shalit's release as well as halting the rocket fire on Israel," said Nazzal.

Nazzal also said that the talks with Carter proved that the political isolation imposed by the US on Hamas was beginning to crumble.

A group of senior Hamas officials from the Gaza Strip will travel to Damascus on Saturday to hold talks with carter, al-Jazeera TV network reported Friday.

The delegation will be led by Hamas' Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar.

Before Friday's meeting began, Abu Marzouk said that calming the situation between Hamas and Israel as well as the fate of Shalit would be on the agenda.

"Hamas will not be a hurdle in any future prisoner exchange," Abu Marzouk said.

Asked if Hamas is ready to sit and talk directly to the Israelis, Abu Marzouk said: "There are no (direct) meetings with the Israelis. Most of the meetings that took place between the two sides were not direct."

www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3533491,00.html

Carter, defying Israel, meets Hamas ex-minister
Tue Apr 15, 2008 5:33pm EDT

Israeli minister tells Carter he would meet Hamas
18 Apr 2008
Carter calls Gaza blockade a crime and atrocity
18 Apr 2008
Israel snubs Carter and declines security help
14 Apr 2008

By Mohammed Assadi

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter met an ex-minister in Hamas' government on Tuesday, defying Israeli leaders who shunned the Nobel Peace Prize laureate over his contacts with the group.

Naser al-Shaer, who served as deputy prime minister in the Hamas-led government that the United States and other Western powers boycotted, was greeted by Carter with a hug and kisses to both cheeks, a member of Carter's delegation said.

"Mr. Carter wanted to listen to the positions of different Palestinian figures. The meeting was very good and he promised to continue such meetings," said Shaer, who was among several Palestinian political figures to meet with the former president.

Carter has angered the Israeli government over plans to meet Hamas' top leader, Khaled Meshaal, in Syria, and for describing Israeli policy in the occupied Palestinian territories as "a system of apartheid" in a 2006 book.

Carter, who brokered Israel's first peace treaty with an Arab neighbor, Egypt, signed in 1979, met Israel's ceremonial president Shimon Peres on Sunday but was shunned by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and other policymakers.

(These Extremists aren't interested in peace, and Carter's efforts work against the crisis they've created, and the achievements they'd planned to try and create through it.)

Shaer told Reuters he met one-on-one with Carter and they discussed efforts to broker an unofficial truce between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas seized the coastal territory by force in June after routing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' more secular Fatah faction.

(Actually, what happened is that the US and Israel, having failed to bring down the elected Hamas through their childish blockade, used corrupt elements of Fatah in a coup attempt, which also failed, but did manage to divide the Palestinians. With all its resources, you'd think a service like Reuters would be able to speak more truthfully about the situation. Due to the media's willingness to distort the situation, many in the world have failed to speak out against Israel/America's increased aggression and international crimes against the Palestinians.)

Abbas then sacked a Hamas-led unity government and appointed a Western(US/Israeli)-backed administration in the West Bank. Abbas's authority has been limited to the occupied West Bank.

Shaer said Carter told him he wanted to play a role in trying to end the enmity between Hamas and Fatah.

GAZA DENIED

Carter told reporters earlier he had wanted to visit Gaza, but his request was rejected. Carter did not say who turned down his request, but a member of his delegation said it was Israel.

(Indeed. You don't want witnesses to your crimes ...)

"I haven't been able to get permission to go into Gaza. I would like to. I asked for permission. But I was turned down. But maybe we can find a way to circumvent that," Carter said.

All of the border crossings between Israel and Gaza are controlled by the Jewish (Zionist, more Reuters bias on display) state. Egyptian forces are stationed at Gaza's southern border, which is largely closed.

Carter said he would use his meeting with Meshaal to "get him to agree to a peaceful resolution of differences, both with the Israelis ... and also with Fatah".

"Since Syria and Hamas will have to be involved in the final peace agreement, they ought to be involved in the discussions leading up to ... peace," Carter said.

Carter, who stressed he was not acting as a negotiator or a mediator, said he hoped "just as a communicator" to relay to "leaders of the United States" what Hamas and Syria have to say.

Israel and Washington have sought to isolate Hamas and bolster Abbas, who launched U.S.-backed peace talks with Olmert.

(Which are nothing more than a facade, to provide Israel with much-needed positive PR, while it continues to do as it pleases.)

Like Israel, the Bush administration opposes Carter's meeting with Meshaal, whose Islamist group won Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006 but was boycotted by the West (Israel, and countries currently led by right-wingers who've allied themselves with their respective Zionist Lobby)l) for refusing to renounce violence and recognize Israel.

During his visit to Ramallah, Carter placed a wreath at the mausoleum of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

U.S. President George W. Bush pointedly chose not to do so during his recent visit. The Bush administration shunned Arafat, who died in 2004, accusing him of fomenting violence.

(Writing by Adam Entous; Editing by Mary Gabriel)

www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSL1464259420080415?feedType=RSS&

Israel's refusal of Carter's request to visit Gaza proves that they know full well that they are guilty of international crimes against the people of Gaza.


Carter: Gaza blockade is an atrocity
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
CAIRO

Israel's blockade (Collective Punishment) of the Gaza Strip is an "atrocity," former US president Jimmy Carter said after meeting with Hamas officials in Cairo. Carter also said he had asked Hamas officials to stop rocket attacks into Israel and defended his controversial meetings with the Palestinian terrorist (The elected political representative of the Palestinians. Part of Israel's problem is this ignorant bias pushed by their Government and media outlets like the JPost, which is meant to limit choice and understanding.) group, saying it was necessary to talk to all parties to achieve peace.

Carter met Thursday for the second straight day with Hamas officials, holding talks with some of the group's leaders from the Gaza Strip in the Egyptian capital.

He is expected Friday in Syria - the latest stop on a tour he calls a private Middle East peace mission - where he said he will meet with Hamas's exiled political chief Khaled Mashaal, as well as Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The meetings with Hamas, which Washington considers a terror organization (They're ones to toss such labels around ...), have drawn sharp criticism from Israeli and US officials (Extremists).

* Zahar compares Gaza to Warsaw ghetto

But Carter strongly defended the need to reach out to Hamas, which won Palestinian parliament elections in 2006.

"You can't have an agreement that must involve certain parties, unless you talk to those parties to conclude the agreement," Carter said in a speech Thursday at the American University in Cairo. "You have to involve Hamas ... They have to be involved in some way."

(But the current talks are just a facade, a way for Israel to stall peace, while further annexing Palestinian land, and working to destroy the possibility of Palestinian self-determination.)

He said that although "there is very strict restraint or prohibition" against any US or Israel official speaking with Hamas "I know there are some officials in the Israeli government who are quite willing to meet with Hamas and maybe that will happen in the near future."

(A strong majority of Israeli citizens WANT their representatives to talk with Hamas.)

Carter said he had requested from the Hamas leaders that they stop rocket attacks into Israel from Gaza, which have prompted IDF military assaults on the Strip.

(Actually, as Israel's own defense staff warned, the imposition of Collective Punishment on Gaza provoked the rocket attacks, which Israel's ruling Extremists wanted, so they could then feign a 'reaction' to something, instead of engaging in naked aggression, even though their attacks on Gaza were planned months in advance.)

Any "killings of civilians is an act of terrorism," he said.

(Perhaps more a condemnation of Israel's recent behaviour ... ?)

He said that during his visit to Israel, the first stop on his regional tour, he saw rockets that had been fired by Hamas and "met with people who lost loved ones."

(But Israel would not allow him to enter Gaza, to see the results of Israel's crimes.)

"At the same time, if you live in Gaza, you know that for every Israeli killed in any kind of combat, between 30 to 40 Palestinians are killed because of the extreme military capability of Israel," Carter said, describing the Israel-imposed siege of Gaza as an "atrocity." Carter lamented that "very little progress has been made" in the 30 years since he brokered Israel's historic peace agreement with Egypt, bringing him the Nobel Peace Prize.

"Israelis are suffering as well as Palestinians and they both need peace," he said.

Before Carter's appearance at the university, a Hamas delegation with about 15 members was seen heading into the hours-long meeting at a Cairo hotel with Carter. The meeting was closed to the media and held under heavy security shortly after Carter and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak met.

The Hamas delegation in Cairo, headed by Gaza leaders Mahmoud Zahar and Said Siyam, was not available for comments later Thursday.

Zahar, in commentary published in The Washington Post Thursday, said Carter's talks with Hamas were "sensible" and would bring "honesty and pragmatism to the Middle East while underscoring the fact that American policy has reached its dead end."

Hamas officials have touted the meetings as a recognition of their legitimacy after their 2006 election victory. After that win, Hamas formed a Palestinian government that was shunned by the West and Israel and relations between Hamas and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas deteriorated.

(Not exactly. Israel and the US used corrupt elements of Fatah in a failed Coup attempt, which they planned and coordinated. Hamas only reacted as it had to, and the division of the Palestinian representatives was that old Colonial Trick of 'Divide & Rule' these criminals are so fond of using against Peoples they Occupy.)

In his editorial, Zahar said no peace plan can succeed "unless we are sitting at the negotiating table and without any preconditions." But he said negotiations were not possible until Israel withdraws from the West Bank and dismantles settlements, then talks could be begin on the return of Palestinian refugees.

(This is the real reason Israel won't deal with Hamas. Hamas doesn't allow Israel to Frame the debate to its liking, and manipulate the process to further steal from the Palestinians. Any real settlement will involve Zionists finally meeting their legal and moral obligations, and they aren't willing to do this in the name of peace.)

There was more criticism of Carter in Washington, where US Congressman Joe Knollenberg, a Republican from Michigan, proposed legislation to prohibit federal funding of the Atlanta, Georgia-based Carter Center. The bill has very little chance of approval.

(Another name to add to the 'slaves of AIPAC' list. He should know that, under existing US law, because Israel maintains clandestine programs of nuclear, chemical, and biological warfare, the billions Israel receives each year in US taxpayer dollars is illegal ...)

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama also criticized Carter, saying he had a "fundamental disagreement" with the former president. "We must not negotiate with a terrorist group intent on Israel's destruction," Obama said.

(Proving that none of the RepubliCrats up for the #1 slot will be any different than the last ...)

In Israel, all the country's senior political leaders except President Shimon Peres declined to meet with Carter when he visited.

After his planned trip to Syria, Carter is also to visit Saudi Arabia and Jordan before returning to Israel late Sunday.

www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1208422634720&pagename=JPost/JPArtic

GOP Rep.: Revoke Jimmy Carter's passport for Hamas visits
Nick Langewis and David Edwards

"He's just unilaterally going off on his own and undermining everything the international community and the United States is (sic) trying to do," protested Republican U.S. House Rep. SUE MYRICK (NC-09) today in the call to revoke the passport of former president Jimmy Carter.

rawstory.com/news/2008/GOP_Rep._calls_to_revoke_Carters_0417.html

Another name to add to the 'do not vote for this slave to AIPAC' list ...

Jewish Voice for Peace: Support Jimmy Carter; US Needs to Talk to Hamas
www.unobserver.com/index.php?pagina=layout4.php&id=4683&blz=1