In Gaza, Carter urges Hamas to meet terms for West?s acceptance
Former president to issue report to Obama after trip
GAZA CITY - Former president Jimmy Carter said yesterday that he urged Hamas leaders during a high-profile meeting here to take steps necessary to become accepted by the leading Western nations.
Carter is the most prominent American figure to have met with the Hamas government that took over Gaza two years ago, after the Palestinian Authority’s forces were routed in a brief but bloody factional war. Hamas welcomed Carter’s visit as a significant step in its quest for international legitimacy.
Ismail Haniya, the leader of the Hamas government in Gaza, and Carter held a joint news conference at which an American flag was displayed alongside a Palestinian national flag behind the speakers. There were no green Hamas flags in sight.
It was Haniya’s most public appearance since Israel ended its devastating three-week military campaign against Hamas in Gaza in January, an offensive that Israel said was intended to halt rocket fire by Gaza militants against southern Israel.
Striking a conciliatory tone, Haniya said Hamas would favor the creation of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders and with full sovereignty, adding, “We are pushing for the realization of this Palestinian national dream.’’
Haniya also said that Carter’s visit to Gaza was particularly important after two years of economic “siege’’ and after the “Israeli aggression.’’ He noted that it followed President Obama’s address in Cairo in which Haniya said he had heard a “different language.’’
Israel and Hamas declared separate, informal cease-fires after last winter’s war, but Israel continues to impose a punishing economic blockade that allows in only basic provisions for the 1.5 million residents of the isolated coastal strip.
Israel, the United States, and the European Union classify Hamas as a terrorist organization. They have set three conditions for dealing with Hamas, saying it must renounce all violence, recognize Israel’s right to exist, and accept all previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements. Hamas has refused to comply.
Hamas leaders have said they will never recognize Israel, and will offer only a long-term truce, not a full-fledged peace treaty, in return for a Palestinian state.
Carter, 84, emphasized that he was in Gaza as a private citizen, not as a representative of his government. But he said he would write a report on his visit to the region for the Obama administration on his return. In a three-hour meeting with Hamas government officials and senior representatives of the group, Carter told them to find a mechanism that would allow Hamas to meet the conditions set by international players, according to Ahmed Yousef, the Hamas deputy foreign minister who attended the meeting.
In a brief interview before the meeting, Carter said that in order to break the Israeli-Palestinian stalemate, “first of all Hamas has to be accepted by the international community as a legitimate player in the future, and that is what I am trying to do today.’’
Carter also called for Palestinian unity and elections, and for an end to the economic blockade of Gaza.
Earlier, touring the site of the American International School, a private institution in Gaza that was bombed by the Israelis during the war, Carter said, “I have to hold back tears when I see the deliberate destruction that has been wreaked against your people.’’ He added that he felt partly responsible because the school had been “deliberately destroyed by bombs from F-16s made in my country.’’
Israel said that rockets had been launched from the vicinity of the school.
Carter denounced the economic embargo.
Under international pressure, the new Israeli government says it is considering allowing more goods into Gaza, but has not yet made any decisions. 