Jimmy Carter Holds Second Meeting With Hamas Leaders, AP Says

[Joanne98]

Source: AP

April 19 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. former president Jimmy Carter met with the exiled leader of the militant Hamas group and his deputy today, for the second time in as many days, the Associated Press reported.

Carter's approximately hour-long meeting today with Khalid Mashaal and his deputy, Moussa Abu Marzouk, in Damascus, Syria, was in defiance of U.S. and Israeli warnings, the news agency said.

Marzouk said Carter and Mashaal discussed a possible prisoner exchange with Israel and the siege imposed by Israel on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, according to the AP.

The two Palestinians are considered terrorists by the U.S. government, and Israel accuses them of masterminding attacks that have killed hundreds of civilians, the AP said. The first meeting was yesterday, according to the news service.



Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601116&sid=az_MxQNNn9cE&refer=africa

[Homer Wells]

1. Blessed are the PEACEMAKERS!!!! n/t

K&R

[ohio2007]

10. Hamas suicide bombers attack Israel-Gaza crossing; 13 hurt

snip
Hamas said it would carry out more attacks to break the blockade of Gaza, imposed after Hamas' violent takeover of the territory nearly a year ago
snip
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080419/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_palestinians_39

that didn't take long

[bahrbearian]

22. Why does Israel blockade Gaza?

Why do they bulldoze houses?
Why do they attack their neighbors?
Must be some be one big olive branch they are swinging?

[ohio2007]

42. Why did they put up tall walls ?

Even though attacks dropped dramatically after walls were put up ?


Give peace and Jimmy Carter a chance


Throughout the six decades of conflict in the Middle East, violence has only bred more violence and has never been the solution to the problem.




................
ROOVEN from Canada 20/04/2008 10:25:44 PM IP


HOW DID THE MEETINGS GO MR. CARTER?
Is there any report on how the meetings between Jimmy and Hamas went. Jimmy met with top Hamas leaders in order to get peace to happen. Did Hamas agree to recognize Israel and meet with Israel and Fatah at the peace table? How did it go? As if I didn't know!
.................

snip
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/newsfull.php?newid=109669

[evolvingsteve]

24. Straight up...

YO'.

B-) :hippie: B-) :hippie: B-) :hippie: B-) :hippie: B-) :hippie: B-) :hippie: B-) :hippie: B-) :hippie: B-) :hippie: B-) :hippie: B-) :hippie: B-) :hippie: B-) :hippie:

[2rth2pwr]

2. Carter is testing the Obama theory of diplomacy.

Let's see how it works out.

[msongs]

3. sorry, but obama dissed carter for talking to hamas. it's only a theory, not reality.

http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN1636948020080416

Msongs

[2rth2pwr]

4. Jeez.. can't he stay on one side of an issue?

[TankLV]

6. the "saint" shows his true colors - again...

Carter did good. That is what you do if you want peace - talk to ALL sides in a dispute...

As usual, obama trys to have it both ways - he opens his mouth and shit falls out...

glad he's not MY "friend"...

[CANDO]

27. I don't believe Obama ever said we should talk to terrorist organizations

He has said we should talk to "nations" who we perceive to be our enemies. Big difference. Nice try.

[uppityperson]

5. k&r for Carter

[pocoloco]

21. Got to be better than the repugs and HRC Iraq war policy!!

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

7. They are so very frightened he will do some real good here.

And it pisses them off when he steps up on his own and uses the word "PEACE" and someone has the sense to listen. They simply cannot handle the concept.

[Pastiche423]

8. It's not so much the concept of peace

as it is the money they would lose if there were to be peace.

[razors edge]

26. Bingo, n/t

[Kurovski]

9. K&R. (nt)

[AzDar]

11. Showing Condi how it's REALLY done.....

:patriot:

[The Sushi Bandit]

12. kick this!

[IsItJustMe]

13. No doubt in my mind that Carter is man of deep beliefs and principles. God bless him.

[cornermouse]

14. I hope he succeeds.

The world could use a little peace somewhere.

[leaningprog]

15. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

Pastiche423 I think you are on to something. Intractable stalemates with
reprehensible acts on one side and then the other keep the lucrative
business of armaments and war going full tilt, while they fail the
people on both sides from living in even a suspicious peace.

I suppose a President or a candidate for President has to take the
stance that these sorts of personal initiatives like Jimmy Carter
is making are problematic and out of order.

But the other issue is that when leadership fails to push past
the powerful interests for whom conflict is convenient and lucrative
and get on with dialog and peacemaking as a first resort instead
of a last resort, they have to expect the vacuum they create will
pull in people of principle who are willing to try to bridge the gap.

At some level, the people of Israel and Egypt have to be proud of
themselves for where they are now instead of where they were before
Camp David brought two old warriors together to seek peace for their
nations. They both laid down their lives as the cost of their efforts.
The Palestinians did not have an Anwar Sadat or a Menachem Begin to
send forth as of yet.

I trust that God will judge Jimmy Carter as a man and not as a
politician. Peace to Israel, Palestine, and to as much of the
world as it can possibly reach. I suspect that contrary to a
lot of politician's politically viable comments, they are secretly
crossing their fingers and legs, and eyes, and hoping that a thread
to go forward comes out of Carter's efforts. God Bless James Earl
Carter and everyone with the courage to begin the conversation.

[KoKo]

16. I applaud Carter for trying...isn't this what Obama said He Would Do?

Carter keeps at it......and I applaud him for doing it...

[madrchsod]

17. carter has respect

he is the only leader at this time in this country that the world respects.

[Divine Discontent]

18. that's pretty accurate, as Carter has been globetrotting for decades

intervening in crisis, and showing how peacemakers do it!

Condi, you actually feel good taking a paycheck for your 'diplomacy'?

[jeff30997]

19. K&R for Jimmy Carter.

One of the few political figure I truly respect and admire.

[lib2DaBone]

20. God Bless Jimmy

We can only hope that in some small way he can deter the NUCLEAR HOLOCOST that GW and the REPUBLICANS have planned. GOD HELP US.

[bonito]

23. K&R for Jimmy Carter n/t

[JohnnyCougar]

25. Israel has killed hundreds of civilians, too.

Why aren't they terrorists?

This "terror" label we keep throwing around is really just empty rhetoric, especially since the majority of regimes we support around the world impose terror on their people.

The only path to peace resides in getting rid of this good/evil, black/white kind of perspective and simply talking and being rational about things.

[Vogon_Glory]

28. Carter Has Credibility, George Whosie-Doodle Doesn't

I should think that thinking conservatives (Surely there are a few of them, even if they're even more scarce than white rhinoceroses) have the good sense to know that James Earl Carter has something Dear Leader does not--credibility. I doubt anybody in the Middle East except the most hidebound pro-Likud activists seriously believes that George W. Whosie-doodle is an honest broker without any particularly pro-Israeli hardliner tilt.

I think that Jimmy Carter talking to Hamas is to the good, even if I don't believe that Hamas is seriously interested in making peace with the Israelis or that Hamas' idea of peace in Palestine is one where Palestine is Juden-frei. Carter is a good and decent man interested in making peace; let the hateful so-and-sos running Hamas discredit themselves by rejecting either the spirt or the letter of Carter's overtures.

[BlueIris]

29. PEACE. MACHINE.

That is all.

[ToughLuck]

30. GO JIMMY CARTER...you attempt what our idiot elected officials will not do

Dem's and Repub's. do not do what is right..they continually listen and take money from AIPAC..any dissent you are called anti-semetic..which is total bullshit.

[LynnTheDem]

31. So George W. bUsh; go ahead and arrest former president Jimmy Carter

as an "enemy combatant".

I dare ya.

Coz America stands for freedumb!

[Bozita]

32. Carter presses Hamas to back Gaza peace talks

Source: Guardian (UK), The Observer

Carter presses Hamas to back Gaza peace talks
Khaled Yacoub Oweis in Damascus
The Observer, Sunday April 20 2008

Hamas was locked in an internal debate in Damascus yesterday over proposals put forward by former United States President Jimmy Carter for a unilateral ceasefire with Israel and more political flexibility, Palestinian politicians said.

Carter left the Syrian capital yesterday for Riyadh after an early morning meeting with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal. In more than four hours of talks on Friday night, they discussed how the Islamist group could be drawn into a Middle East peace plan and end its opposition to peace talks between Israel and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the rival Fatah faction.

Carter demanded that Hamas stops firing rockets on Israel while he pursues efforts to lift the siege of the Gaza Strip, which is ruled by Hamas, politicians familiar with the meetings said. 'Carter also asked Meshaal to adopt more flexible public statements and talked to him as a leader of a national liberation movement, not as the terrorist Israel and America try to depict him as being,' one of the sources told Reuters.

'Meshaal is a first among equals in Hamas. He has to secure agreement from the rest of the Hamas leadership,' the source added.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/20/israelandthepalestinians.usa

[bluerum]

33. An emissary of peace. b*Ush and the criminal gang don't like his kind.

[sellitman]

34. Neither does Hamas.

They just planted and detonated another bomb. This time it was at the portal their citizens were getting supplies from. Like they care.

Keep up the good work Jimmy!

[razors edge]

35. And your alternative is?

[ohio2007]

41. while your plan is a proven well oiled machine

US supplies arms and financial to Fatah, they handed them over to Hamas....Hamas launches the home made rockets paid for by US financial aid. Why should anything change ?

Tear down the wall, let them 'dialogue'

[bluerum]

37. He will keep working for peace until he dies.

[ohio2007]

43. ..by a suicide bomber most likely if Israel refuses to guarantee his safety

Wouldn't that be ironic if Hamas entertained thoughts of taking Jimmy hostage ?

What would Hillary,Obama or * do then ?

[bluerum]

44. Wouldn't it be ironic if Israel or the CIA sponsored his disappearnce?

[ohio2007]

46. thats how the conspiracy theorists would spin it if he remained in Gaza

[bluerum]

49. Conspiracy? That's who he is going up against - who else would do it?

[Trillo]

36. This seems like one of the bigger "good" stories

in the news these last few days.

Concluding paragraph's a bit of a zinger, eh?

[bluerum]

38. Sure. First they hang Carter out to dry, then they want to use his efforts

to gather intelligence.

[fshrink]

39. Peace will happen only

when the West will stop using the ME as a pawn, which has characterized the "post-colonization" phase. In the process, at some point, all the parties involved will have to sit down and negotiate. All of them.

[ohio2007]

40. buisness as usual

Rockets were fired while he talked to their "leaders".

"Peace in our time."

[Moloch]

45. Jimmy Carter is right to meet with Hamas...

They are the democratically-elected leadership in the Palestinian Authority.. Why would anyone even meet with Fatah? It would just be a symbolic gesture.

[ohio2007]

47. Last friday, Hamas refused an Egyptian sponsored peace deal.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/976429.html

They won't listen to fellow Arabs. WHy wouold they slow down attacks with Jimmy in town?

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

48. Since when does Egypt speak for Palestine?

Does the United States just accept deals brokered by other nations on our behalf, or do we, as a sovereign nation, broker our own treaties and deals?

Does the UK or France listen to other nations in European because they happen to be European?

Seems like a ridiculous and arbitrary standard you're setting. Palestinians can and should broker their own peace, albeit with facilitators if necessary. Other nations have no business in the matter, as it is beyond their sovereignty, even if they share a common race or heritage.