RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - Former President Jimmy Carter embraced a leading
Hamas figure Tuesday, according to participants in a meeting that
infuriated
Israeli officials already upset by Carter's freelance Mideast peace
mission.
Carter also laid a wreath at the grave of Yasser Arafat, whom the Bush
administration and many Israelis blame for the breakdown of peace talks
seven years ago and the violence that followed.
At a reception in the West Bank town of Ramallah organized by Carter's
office, the former president hugged Nasser Shaer, a senior Hamas
politician,
meeting participants said. Embraces between men are a common custom in
Arab
culture.
"He gave me a hug. We hugged each other, and it was a warm reception,"
Shaer
told The Associated Press. "Carter asked what he can do to achieve peace
between the Palestinians and Israel ... and I told him the possibility for
peace is high."
Carter's office refused to comment, saying he does not discuss closed
meetings.
Shaer, who served as deputy prime minister and education minister in the
Hamas-led Palestinian government that unraveled last year, is considered a
leading member of the Islamic militant group's pragmatic wing. After a
stint
in an Israeli prison last year, he is now a professor at a West Bank
university, teaching comparative religion.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said Carter's meeting with
Hamas "dignified" a group committed to Israel's destruction. "One cannot
but
wonder how this attitude is supposed to promote peace and understanding,"
he
said.
Israel and the West Bank are the first stops on a visit that also is to
include Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Syria-where the virulently
anti-Israel Hamas movement is headquartered. Shunned by his Israeli hosts
and criticized by the White House for his willingness to meet with Hamas,
Carter has urged that both stop isolating the militant group.
"Since Syria and Hamas will have to be involved in a final peace
agreement,
they have to be involved in discussions that lead to final peace," Carter
said Tuesday.
The U.S. has also expressed displeasure at Carter's overtures to Hamas, an
Islamic group responsible for the deaths of some 250 Israelis in suicide
bombings and labeled a terrorist organization by both countries. Carter is
to meet Khaled Mashaal, the group's exiled leader, in Damascus, Syria, on
Friday.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is not meeting with Carter during his
visit, and the only Israeli leader to host him, President ****mon Peres,
scolded Carter for his planned meeting with Mashaal.
Critics say also say engaging Hamas will undermine moderate Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas as he tries to make peace with the Jewish state.
Abbas is in a bitter rivalry with Hamas, which routed his forces in the
Gaza
Strip last year and seized control of the area.
The Israeli daily Haaretz on Tuesday criticized the government for giving
Carter, a Nobel laureate who brokered Israel's first peace agreement with
an
Arab nation, a cool reception.
"The boycott will not be remembered as a glorious moment in this
government's history," the newspaper said. "Jimmy Carter has dedicated his
life to humanitarian missions, to peace, to promoting democratic elections
and to better understanding between enemies throughout the world."
Earlier this week, Carter said isolating Hamas is counterproductive and
volunteered to serve as a conduit between the group and the U.S. and
Israeli
governments.
Carter acknowledged Tuesday he was not on an official mission and had "no
authority at all."
"I'm not a negotiator. I'm just trying to understand different opinions
and
provide communication between people," Carter said.
When meeting Mashaal, Carter said, "I'm going to try everything I can to
get
him to agree to a peaceful resolution," both with Israel and with Hamas'
internal Palestinian rivals.
Carter said he requested permission to enter Hamas-ruled Gaza but was
turned
down. He did not provide details. Israel and Egypt control Gaza's border
crossings and such a visit would also require the approval of Carter's
U.S.
Secret Service detail. There have been no official visits to Gaza by
Americans since Hamas won Palestinian parliamentary elections in early
2006.
President Bush did not visit Arafat's mausoleum in Ramallah when he
visited
earlier this year.
Carter's office also said a request for security protection from Israel's
****n Bet agency had not been met.
The ****n Bet said it never received a request to provide security. Stewart
Tuttle, spokesman for the U.S. Embassy, said the embassy never relayed a
request for ****n Bet protection because Carter was on a private visit.
A statement from the Carter delegation said the former president's U.S.
security detail "was always, without exception, assisted" by the ****n Bet
in
previous visits after he left office. However, the statement did not
directly blame Israel.
--
"Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno."
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