Disturbing News from Jimmy Carter: Former US President Announces Support for Illegal Israeli Settlers of Gush Etzion

Disturbing News from Jimmy Carter:

Former US President Announces Support for Illegal Israeli Settlers of Gush Etzion

Carter tells West Bank settlers that he envisions their settlement to be in Israeli hands for ever

Monday June 15, 2009 13:02 by Katherine Orwell - 1 of International Middle East Media Center Editorial Group

Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter met with settler leaders from the Gush Etzion settlement bloc on Sunday and told them that he believed that their settlement is among the ones which should be able to remain under a final peace deal with the Palestinians.

"This particular settlement is not one that I envision ever being abandoned, or changed over into a Palestinian territory," Carter said. "This is part of the close settlements to the 1967 line that I think will be here forever."

Carter, normally known for his critical stance on Israel's policy regarding Palestinians, said that his visit to the settlements has given him a fresh perspective on the issue.

International law and UN resolutions take a different stance on the issue of Israeli settlements, as all settlements on occupied Palestinian land are illegal and Israel should withdraw to the pre-1967 borders.

During his visit, Carter repeated that he remains committed to Israel, adding that enabling the state to exist in peace and security has been the most important project he has taken on in the last 30 years.

Just one day before Carter stated "I have been in love with the Palestinian people for many years," adding that this is a feeling shared by members of his family.

Gush Etzion council leader Shaul Goldstein, who received Carter in his home, said that the visit was significant and that he believed it did indeed contributed to a change in the former president's views. Goldstein called Carter “brave” for visiting and said that the former president “understood what we said about our heritage here and ties to the land here”.

Last week Carter met with Hamas' exiled leadership in Syria. Carter has said there that peace between Israel and the Palestinians is impossible without involving Hamas. Carter has met with Hamas officials before and this has created a lot of controversy around his person as most of the international community refuses to talk with Hamas.

Is Carter going to carry 11,000 letters to 11,000 Palestinian political prisoners in Israel, as he agreed to carry an Israeli letter to Shalit?

Blair in Gaza, Carter to follow
Date: 15 / 06 / 2009 Time: 13:28
Gaza – Ma’an –

Quartet Envoy Tony Blair arrived on a surprise visit to the Gaza Strip on Monday, his second since Hamas took control of the territory and he assumed his current role.

Blair’s office said that he planned to hold talks with local NGOs, business and the UN’s relief agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.

"I have returned to Gaza today to hear directly from local Palestinians about the tough situation they continue to face here. It is vitally important to maintain our focus on the genuine humanitarian concerns that still exist here in Gaza,” the former British prime minister said in a statement.

It is likely that Blair will not meet with the Hamas-led de facto government in Gaza, which is boycotted by the Zionist-controlled Quartet, a diplomatic grouping of the US, UN, EU, and Russia. On his last visit to Gaza, Blair visited a sewage treatment project he is supporting in the town of Beit Hanoun without meeting Hamas.

Blair’s trip comes a day before a visit by former US President Jimmy Carter, who is expected to meet Hamas leaders and also tour areas that were devastated by Israel’s three-week war against the Strip in December and January.

According to news reports, Carter will deliver a letter from the family of captive Israeli soldier Gliad Shalit to Hamas. He is expected to hand over the letter on Tuesday in one of his meetings with Hamas officials.

Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum confirmed that Carter would meet Hamas leaders, but would not say whether the letter would be passed on to Shalit.

“We heard that there is letter from Shalit’s father [sent] through Carter to us, but what about thousands of letters from the 11,000 Palestinians prisoners [sent] through Carter to Israel?” said Barhoum.

Meanwhile, the spokesperson of the official committee to break the blockade of Gaza, Hamdi Sha’ath said that a delegation from the Organization of the Islamic Conference will arrive to Gaza through the Rafah crossing on Wednesday. The delegation consists of five people led by the director of the department of Humanitarian Affairs in the organization, Fuad Al-Mazma’i.

Sha’ath said the delegation will open a specialist eye clinic and also visit areas devastated during the war. The group will also meet civil society groups and NGOs in order to identify their needs especially in light of the two-year-old Israeli blockade.

Carter meets West Bank Hamas MPs

[ 15/06/2009 - 11:31 AM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)--

Former US president Jimmy Carter on Sunday met with a number of Hamas lawmakers in the West Bank to discuss their views regarding the Palestine cause and tabled solutions to solve it.

The one hour meeting was held at the Carter center in Ramallah city in the presence of three Hamas MPs Mahmoud Al-Ramahi, Abdul Rahman Zeidan and Omar Abdul Razek.

The deputies appreciated Carter's positions and discussed with him means of settling the Middle East crisis in light of the presence of a new US administration.

Carter earlier stated that there could be no peace in the region without the direct participation of Hamas in the political process.

Carter also criticized Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu's stands towards the issue of settlements (in the West Bank) and the two-state solution, describing them as "negative".

He opined that the American administration would soon find means of having a kind of relationship with Hamas.

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