Carter offers to act as "communicator" between Hamas, US, Israel.

This is from Haaretz.
It is a wonder that Israelis talk to themselves given their propensity not to talk with terrorists. Israel and the U.S. want a weak and compliant Abbas to deal with not Hamas even though Hamas is willing to broker a deal. Perhaps Carter will be able to get the long held Israeli soldier held by Hamas released. Even if he does it is unlikely that Israel will give much if anything in return. The refusal of Israel to provide security for Carter is rather astonishing given that they have always provided security for U.S. presidents or ex-presidents.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Last update - 23:21 14/04/2008
Carter offers to act as 'communicator' between Hamas, U.S., Israel
By Fadi Eyadat, Haaretz Correspondent Reuters

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, defending a contentious plan to meet the leader of Hamas, said Monday he hoped to become a conduit between the militant group and Washington and even Israel.

"Isolating Hamas is counterproductive," Carter said.

Hamas rules Gaza but is ostracized by Israel, the U.S. and Europe as a terror group.


"I think it is absolutely crucial that in the final and dreamed-about and
prayed-for peace agreement for this region that Hamas be involved and Syria will be involved," Carter told a business conference outside Tel Aviv.

"I can't say that they will be amenable to any suggestions, but at least after I meet with them I can go back and relay what they say, as just a
communicator, to the leaders of the United States," he said.

Earlier on Monday, Carter visited the southern town of Sderot, a frequent target of Qassam rocket fire from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, and met the city's mayor, Eli Moyal, and other municipal officials.

"I think it's a despicable crime for any deliberate effort to be made to kill innocent civilians, and my hope is there will be a cease-fire soon," Carter said during his visit.

Following the visit, Moyal said: "I don't believe that Carter can bring calm and peace and I think his meeting with Meshal is arbitrary and will do nothing to advance Israel's interests," Moyal said, referring to Carter's plans to meet with Hamas leader Khaled Meshal in Damascus this week.

Olmert's office had no immediate comment.

Carter said Monday that a deal for the release of Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit would top the agenda of his discussions with Meshal.

The Bush administration and close U.S. ally Israel oppose Carter's planned meeting with Meshal, whose Islamist group won Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006 but was boycotted by the West for refusing to renounce violence and recognize Israel.

Israel and the United States have sought to isolate Hamas, which seized control of the Gaza Strip in June from more secular Fatah forces loyal to Abbas. Abbas holds sway in the West Bank and has launched U.S.-backed peace talks with Olmert.

Hamas leaders have offered a long-term truce with Israel in return for a viable Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, but the group's 1988 founding charter calls for the destruction of Israel.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner, who brokered Israel's first peace treaty with an Arab neighbor, Egypt, signed in 1979, met President Shimon Peres on Sunday but was shunned by most of the political leadership, including Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

In talks with MK Yossi Beilin in Jerusalem on Monday, Carter said he believed a release deal was possible and intended to make it a central aspect of his discussions with the Islamist leader.

Carter also said he would raise the importance of a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and a halt to rocket fire on southern Israel during the meeting.

The former U.S. leader told Beilin that in his efforts to solve international conflicts, he worked on a principle of talking with all possible sources.

Carter told Haaretz Sunday in an exclusive interview that he intends to check Meshal's willingness to accept the Arab League peace initiative. Carter says that acceptance of this plan by Hamas would be a very positive step.

Shin Bet security service declines request to assist in Carter security detail
Shin Bet security service has declined to assist Carter during his visit, U.S. sources close to the matter said on Monday.

An American source described the snub as an "unprecedented" breach between the Shin Bet and the U.S. Secret Service, which protects all current and former U.S. presidents, as well as Israeli leaders when they visit the United States.

Government sources on Monday described the lack of Shin Bet during Carter's visit to Sderot, an area often hit by rockets from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, as particularly "problematic".

Carter angered the Israeli government with plans to meet with Hamas leaders and for describing Israeli policy in the Palestinian territories as "a system of apartheid" in a 2006 book.

Israel has also rejected Carter's request to meet jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti, who is seen as a possible successor to President Mahmoud Abbas, a spokesman for Carter said.

Barghouthi was convicted in 2004 of murder by an Israeli court over the killing of four Israelis and a Greek Orthodox monk in attacks by Palestinian militants. He is serving five life sentences.

American sources close to the matter said the Shin Bet, which helps protect visiting dignitaries and is overseen by Olmert's office, declined to meet the head of Carter's Secret Service security detail or provide his team with assistance as is customary during such visits.

"They're not getting support from local security," an American source said.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jimmy Carter on Palestine etc.

I think the Palestinians were already divided but the US and Israel are exploiting and exacerbating the division. In spite of the electoral support for Hamas Israel and the US did everything possible to prevent a unity government from working and have been quite straightforwardly giving military support to the Fatah and Abbas. In fact it is quite possible that Hamas struck in Gaza before Fatah were able to strike effectively at Hamas. This is an absolute disaster for the Palestinians. The US and Israel must be quite happy with the turn of events. Juan Cole thinks that in the long run the US, Israel policy is bad for Israel but since it weakens the Palestinians I don't see how it is going to be bad for Israel.


Jimmy Carter says U.S. aims to split Palestinians
19 Jun 2007 16:36:40 GMT
Source: Reuters


Background
Israeli-Palestinian conflict
More By Jonathan Saul

DUBLIN, June 19 (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said on Tuesday Washington's support for the Palestinian Fatah group and the blocking of aid to Gaza were part of a mistaken policy aimed at dividing Palestinians.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah dismissed Hamas from the government last week and formed a new cabinet in the occupied West Bank after gunmen from the Islamist group took over the Gaza Strip.

In a bid to shore up Abbas, the United States and the European Union pledged on Monday to lift a 15-month old embargo on the Palestinians imposed after Hamas won elections and rejected their calls to recognise Israel and renounce violence.

Carter, on a visit to Dublin, said the United States and Israel had done "everything they could to prevent accommodation between Hamas and Fatah".

"Lately, the United States has been giving military aid to Fatah in order to conquer Hamas in Gaza," Carter told reporters after addressing a human rights forum in Dublin.

"Fatah could not prevail because of the fervent commitment of some of the Hamas fighters and because of their discipline," he added.

Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas has said he still considers a 3-month-old unity coalition, in which he is prime minister, as the legitimate Palestinian government and accuses Abbas of participating in a U.S.-led plot to overthrow him.

Fatah has rejected a Hamas overture for "dialogue" and banned all contacts with the group.

Israeli and Western officials say Israel plans to tighten a financial clampdown on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip that would choke off all but humanitarian and basic supplies.

Carter, who brokered the Camp David accords between Israel and Egypt in 1978, said moves to give Palestinians assistance in the West Bank was an attempt to "reward them", while continuing to "punish" the 1.5 million aid-dependent Palestinians in Gaza.

"This effort to divide Palestine into two peoples now, I think it is a step in the wrong direction," Carter said.

"There is no effort being made outside to bring the two together."

BUSH CRITICISED

U.S. President George W. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met in Washington on Tuesday and pledged to work together to strengthen Abbas against Hamas Islamists.

Carter, who was president from 1977-1981 and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his charitable work, has been highly critical of Bush's Middle East policies. In May he described Bush's presidency as "the worst in history".

Carter told reporters that U.S-run detention camps, such as Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and U.S. anti-terrorism laws, were unacceptable even in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

"This departure on human rights is completely incompatible with all the predecessors in the White House," he said.

"It's excused inadequately by the aftermath of 9/11 that the terrorism threat is so great that we can abandon our basic American principles on human rights," he said. "I strongly disagree with that."