Former President Jimmy Carter Defends Plan to Meet with Hamas Leader Khaled Mashaal

Sunday, April 13, 2008
ABC News website brings us this story... Former President Jimmy Carter defended this weekend his intention to meet with Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal during an upcoming trip to the Middle East, saying the group must be included in the peace process for the troubled region... "It's very important that at least someone meet with the Hamas leaders to express their views, to ascertain what flexibility they have, to try to induce them to stop all attacks against innocent civilians in Israel and to cooperate with the Fatah as a group that unites the Palestinians," Carter said in an exclusive interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC News' "This Week."...
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White House file photo of Former President Jimmy Carter

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IsraelNationalNews.com reports it this way... and I must say I do not blame them. Their report starts off like this... Prime Minister Ehud Olmert turned down a request from former American president Jimmy Carter for a meeting during his visit to Israel next week, ostensibly due to his plans to follow the visit with a meeting with the head of Hamas... The Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni both said that their schedules will not allow a meeting, but an anonymous Israeli official told the Washington Times, "You draw your own conclusions." Other officials have expressed anger at Carter's proposed meeting with Syrian-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal... Even US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has been openly critical of the former president's plans to meet Mashaal...
Read the rest of this report in full at link below...
Report: Olmert and Livni Snub Carter