Jimmy Carter off to visit Hamas (maybe)

[Mediocrates]

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/125854

From news article:

Former United States President Jimmy Carter is planning to meet with the head of the Islamist terrorist group Hamas.

According to the Al-Hayat Arabic paper, Carter is planning to meet with Khaled Mashaal, who heads Hamas from Damascus, Syria, during a visit to the country in the coming weeks.

The meeting, the paper said, is scheduled for April 18.

Carter, who during his presidency brokered talks between Egypt and Israel that resulted in Israel relinquishing half of the territory liberated in the Six Day War to Egypt, has recently become openly hostile to the Jewish State.

Carter recently penned a book accusing Israel of being an apartheid state. In his lectures, he has also endorsed increasingly prominent conspiracy theories attributing America’s woes in Iraq and Islamist terrorism in general to Israel’s policies and the perceived omnipotence of the Israel lobby.

Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz wrote that Carter's book "is so filled with simple mistakes of fact and deliberate omissions that were it a brief filed in a court of law, it would be struck and its author sanctioned for misleading the court."

Carter’s press secretary Deanna Congileo, told Fox News that Carter will indeed be visiting the region in April and would not deny that a visit with the infamous terror chief is planned.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satelli...cle%2FShowFull

From news article:

The Israeli government and politicians sent mixed messages on Thursday regarding plans by former US president Jimmy Carter to meet with Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal in Damascus next week.

On the one hand, senior Israeli diplomatic officials in Jerusalem said they were "outraged" at Carter's decision. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni have declined to meet with him when he visits Israel, citing "scheduling conflicts," while sources close to Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu said he was refusing to see Carter because of the Mashaal meeting.

But President Shimon Peres, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Shas chairman Eli Yishai and Israel Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman have all agreed to meet with Carter.

The former president, who brokered the Camp David peace treaty with Egypt, has been persona non grata for many Israelis since he published his book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, in late 2006.

Carter will arrive Sunday afternoon and meet with Peres that evening. On Monday, he will visit Sderot, meet with Barak and speak at an event sponsored by Ha'aretz's business Web site. On Tuesday he will convene with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. On Wednesday, he will meet with Yishai and Lieberman before traveling to Damascus to meet with Mashaal on Friday.

The Atlanta-based Carter Center did not confirm the meeting with the exiled leader of Hamas, but a senior Hamas official in Syria, Muhammad Nazzal, told The Associated Press that Carter had sent an envoy to Damascus earlier, requesting a meeting with the Islamist group's officials, including Mashaal, and that Hamas "welcomed the request."

Meanwhile in Washington, the US State Department said it had advised Carter against meeting any representative of Hamas.

"US government policy is that Hamas is a terrorist organization and we don't believe it is in the interest of our policy or in the interest of peace to have such a meeting," spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.

He said the message had been conveyed directly to Carter in a phone call during the past week by Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch.

Peres's spokeswoman said he had accepted Carter's request to meet with him because of their shared past and because he respected the former president's role in advancing peace between Israel and Egypt. An Israeli diplomatic official said many European politicians and diplomats have gone to Damascus from Jerusalem.

A source close to Yishai said he had agreed to meet with Carter specifically because of his meeting with Mashaal. Yishai intends to send messages to Hamas via Carter that he hopes will help bring home kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Schalit.

"Yishai said he was ready to meet with Hamas leaders himself to help bring home Schalit, so he has no problem meeting with Carter," a Yishai associate said. "He thinks that it is better to confront people with abhorrent views than to avoid them."

Lieberman said he intended to use the meeting with Carter to present his diplomatic plan for population exchanges.

A source connected to Netanyahu said that if there had been a question about whether he would meet with Carter before his decision to meet with Mashaal, that decision killed any chances of a Carter-Netanyahu meeting.

Carter Center spokeswoman Deanna Congileo confirmed there was a planned trip by Carter to the Middle East, but could not confirm any specifics on eventual meetings or the itinerary.

Congileo said Carter would lead a study mission to Israel, the West Bank, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Jordan from April 13-21, as part of the Carter Center's ongoing effort to support "peace, democracy and human rights in the region."

A Carter-Mashaal meeting would be the first public contact in two years between a prominent American figure and officials of Hamas, branded a terrorist organization by the United States and Israel.

In 2006, US veteran civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson met with Mashaal in Syria.

According to another Hamas official in Syria, Moussa Abu Marzouk, who is the deputy head of Hamas' political bureau, Hamas and Carter will discuss Schalit's fate.

In an interview with the Kuwaiti Al-Qabas newspaper on Sunday, Abu Marzouk said Shalit would not be returned alive if Israel failed to release 350 Palestinians it holds prisoner.

Mashaal heads Hamas's political bureau and is believed to be its top leader. He fears an assassination by Israel, which tried to kill him in 1997, when agents sprayed him with poison on a street in Amman.

Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Illinois) pleaded with Carter from the floor of the US House of Representatives not to meet with Mashaal, who he said was responsible for the murders of at least 26 Americans.

"President Carter, the voices from the grave beseech you - do not meet with the man who ordered the murder of these American citizens," Kirk said.

[Mediocrates]

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/973845.html

From news article:

The Georgia-based Carter Center announced on Thursday that former U.S. President Jimmy Carter will visit the Middle East next week, but would not confirm reports that he was to meet with senior Hamas officials during his trip to Syria.

Senior Hamas official in Syria, Mohammed Nazzal, said Thursday that Carter planned meet the group's politburo chief Khaled Meshal, who lives in exile in Damascus. Rumors of the meeting began circulating in media on Wednesday,

Nazzal told the Associated Press on Thursday that Carter had sent an envoy to Damascus earlier, requesting a meeting with the militant group's officials, including Meshal.

Hamas welcomed the request, said Nazzal, who is a member of Hamas' political bureau, and added that the meeting with Carter would take place on April 18.

Carter Center spokeswoman Deanna Congileo confirmed there was a planned trip by Carter to the Middle East next week, but could not give any specific detail on eventual meetings or the itinerary.

A press release from the Atlanta, Georgia-based Carter Center said the former president was to lead a study mission to Israel, the West Bank, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan, as part of his ongoing effort to support peace, democracy, and human rights in the region.

The statement said the visit would take place from Sunday until April 21.

"This is a study mission, and our purpose is not to negotiate, but to support and provide momentum for current efforts to secure peace in the Middle East," said Carter, according to the statement. "Our delegation has considerable experience in the region, and we go there with an open mind and heart to listen and learn from all parties."

Meanwhile in Washington, the U.S. State Department said it had advised Carter against meeting any representative of Hamas.

"U.S. government policy is that Hamas is a terrorist organization and we don't believe it is in the interest of our policy or in the interest of peace to have such a meeting," spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.

He said the message had been conveyed directly to Carter in a phone call
during the past week by Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch.

A Carter-Meshal meeting would be the first public contact in two years
between a prominent American figure and officials of Hamas, branded a
terrorist organization by the United States and Israel.

In 2006, U.S. veteran civil rights leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson met Meshal during a visit to Syria.

According to another Hamas official in Syria, Moussa Abu Marzouk, who is the deputy head of Hamas' political bureau, Hamas and Carter will discuss the fate of the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

In an interview with the Kuwaiti Al-Qabas newspaper on Sunday, Abu Marzouk said Shalit would not be returned alive to Israeli authorities if Israel failed to release 350 Palestinians it holds prisoner.

Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip affiliated with Hamas captured Shalit in 2006. Negotiations toward a prisoner swap for Palestinians in Israeli custody have so far failed.

Tensions between Washington and Damascus have grown increasingly chilly
lately, with the U.S. criticizing the Syrian human rights track record and accusing President Bashar Assad's authoritarian regime of trying to undermine stability in Iraq and undercut Lebanon's sovereignty and democracy. U.S. President George W. Bush in February expanded earlier standing U.S. sanctions against Syrian senior government officials and their associates deemed responsible for public corruption.

The United States has also complained Syria supporting militant groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah and has failed to stop guerrillas from crossing the border into Iraq.

Meshal lives in exile in Syria, where he heads Hamas' political bureau and is believed to be its highest leader. He fears an assassination by Israel, which tried to kill him in 1997, when agents sprayed him with poison on a street in Amman but he survived.

[ProZionist]

Carter belongs in jail for intent to violate US law several times over:

1. Hamas is a desginated terrorist group. He is legally open to charge for
- meeting with a terrorist group
- arguably aiding and abetting a terrorist group.

2. Under the Logan act private citizens are forbidden to usurp the government's role of negotiating with foreign powers.

3. Under Reagan one overly-arrogant US television comentator in Lebanaon publicly interviewed a terrorist leader and said to Reagan, "What do you have to respond?" On the grounds of usurpation of foreign policy prerogrative (and negotiating with an enemy) the DOJ contact the major media outlet to say, "Cool it." Carter has gone further and so should be arrested.

4. Less clear but arguable is whether he is on the point of violating hate crimes laws by inciting terrorist violence against Jews. If European hate crime laws can be used to suppress books in the US critical of Islam, then why cannot those same laws be used to suppress Jew-haters like Carter in the US?

[Vikingstar]

We're still paying the disasterous price for Jimmy Carter's presidency. He gave us an radicalized Iran, the gift that keeps on giving.

[dayag]

Carter belongs in jail for intent to violate US law several times over:

1. Hamas is a desginated terrorist group. He is legally open to charge for
- meeting with a terrorist group
- arguably aiding and abetting a terrorist group.

2. Under the Logan act private citizens are forbidden to usurp the government's role of negotiating with foreign powers.

3. Under Reagan one overly-arrogant US television comentator in Lebanaon publicly interviewed a terrorist leader and said to Reagan, "What do you have to respond?" On the grounds of usurpation of foreign policy prerogrative (and negotiating with an enemy) the DOJ contact the major media outlet to say, "Cool it." Carter has gone further and so should be arrested.

4. Less clear but arguable is whether he is on the point of violating hate crimes laws by inciting terrorist violence against Jews. If European hate crime laws can be used to suppress books in the US critical of Islam, then why cannot those same laws be used to suppress Jew-haters like Carter in the US?

The man who said in March 1980 to his senior political advisors "If I get back in, I'm going to f*** the Jews." He didn't get back in, but he's still out to get us.