Jimmy Carter to meet Hamas leaders after criticising Israeli PM - Guardian

[Bozita]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/15/carter-hamas-visit-netanyahu

Jimmy Carter to meet Hamas leaders after criticising Israeli PM
• Former US president to travel to Gaza
• Netanyahu raised new obstacles to peace, Carter says
Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem
guardian.co.uk, Monday 15 June 2009 18.03 BST
Article history

The former US president Jimmy Carter will visit Gaza for a rare meeting with senior Hamas officials following his criticism of a key speech by Israel's prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, on Sunday night.

Carter, who has been in Israel and the occupied West Bank over the past week, will be one of the most senior western figures to meet the Hamas leadership in Gaza in recent years. He is expected to meet, among other Hamas officials, Ismail Haniyeh, the former Palestinian prime minister.

Last month in Damascus he met Khaled Meshal, the head of the Hamas political bureau and the group's effective leader. Carter has been meeting Israeli officials and travelled to a Jewish settlement on the West Bank at the weekend as part of his private diplomatic efforts. His visits are not always welcomed by the Israeli government, which has been angered by his meetings in recent years with Hamas.

On Sunday Carter criticised a policy speech given by Netanyahu, in which the Israeli prime minister, responding to weeks of pressure from ­Washington, gave carefully worded approval for a future Palestinian state under strict conditions, but insisted "normal lives" should continue in Jewish settlements in east Jerusalem and the West Bank.

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[DURHAM D]

1. Jimmy needs to go back to Georgia and stay there.

His big mouth accompanied by his self-righteous born again sanctimonious drivel is nothing but trouble for the White House. Carter really does think Jesus has given him a mission. We don't need it. Go build houses.

[chimpymustgo]

2. Actually, we do need some one who will be even-handed. Carter is a great man.

[monmouth]

3. He may be a great man, but I also think he should just be the man

from Plains. He doesn't have access to the latest intel, the daily briefings, etc. Jimmy's ego sometimes gets away from him I think.

[On the Road]

5. Would You Be Just as Incensed if the Headline Had Read:

"Jimmy Carter to meet Israeli PM after criticising Hamas Leaders"?

If we're supposed to be impartial brokers, they should elicit similar reactions. Just food for thought.

[LaurenG]

4. I'm glad he's going to try to open a conversation. More power to him. nt