DAMASCUS, Syria — President Carter defied U.S. and Israeli warnings and met Friday with the exiled leader of Hamas and his deputy, two men the U.S. government has labeled terrorists and whom Israel accuses of masterminding attacks that have killed hundreds of civilians.
Carter is the most prominent American to hold talks with Khaled Mashaal, whose Palestinian militant group claimed new legitimacy from the meeting along with two other sessions the Nobel laureate held with Hamas leaders in the Middle East this week.
“Political isolation (of Hamas) by the American administration has begun to crumble,” Mohammed Nazzal, a top figure in Hamas’ political bureau, said after Friday’s meeting at Mashaal’s Damascus office.
A senior Hamas official in Damascus described the meeting as “warm.”
But he said Carter did not receive a response to either of the two requests the former president made in the session: that Hamas halt its rocket attacks against Israel and that it agree to a meeting with Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Eli Yishai to discuss a prisoner exchange.
Nazzal said that Gaza-based Hamas leaders would travel to Syria on Saturday to confer with Mashaal and that Carter “will be informed of Hamas’ response in the coming days.”
Underscoring the impression that Carter did not win any concessions, Hamas said Friday that captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit will “not see the light” until Palestinian prisoners are also released in an exchange.
Carter, who brokered the 1978 Israeli-Egyptian peace and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, has defended what he calls his personal peace mission. He says Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, must be engaged in order to achieve peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
The controversy over his visit highlights two different approaches to foreign policy. Some, like Carter, believe that is impossible to resolve a conflict without engaging all parties, even those responsible for attacks on civilians. Others, including the Bush administration, contend that such meetings give credibility to hard-line militants.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
