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Carter defends decision to meet with Hamas leader

Former US president Jimmy Carter has defended his decision to meet the leader of the militant Hamas movement, saying that Middle East peace can only be achieved by talking to all sides.

In an interview published yesterday in Israel’s Haaretz daily, Carter responded to criticism by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, saying that the State Department had been informed of the schedule for his week-long Middle East tour and had not tried to dissuade him from seeing exiled Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal in Damascus, Syria.

Hamas is sworn to Israel’s destruction and has carried out dozens of suicide bombings that have killed more than 250 Israelis. Israel has no contacts with the Islamic militant group, whose violent takeover of the Gaza Strip in June has complicated newly revived efforts by Israel and the Palestinians to strike a final peace deal.

Haaretz reported Carter as saying he intended to use the Mashaal meeting to press for the return of three Israeli soldiers captured by Hamas and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia and to try and get Mashaal to accept a pan-Arab plan for peace with Israel.

“The most important single foreign policy goal in my life has been to bring peace to Israel and peace and justice to Israel’s neighbors. I have done everything I could in office and since I left office to do that,” the paper quoted Carter as saying.
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