Former US president Jimmy Carter insisted Monday his recent meetings with leaders of the radical Islamic group Hamas had yielded specific results, hitting back at criticism from Palestinian and Israeli officials.
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“Through more official consultations with these outlawed leaders, it may yet be possible to revive and expedite the stalemated peace talks between Israel and its neighbors,” Carter wrote in an opinion piece for The New York Times.
Earlier this month, Carter held two meetings in Damascus with exiled Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal, angering both Israel and the US, who consider the movement a terror group despite its victory in 2006 Palestinian elections.
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Since then, both Palestinian and Israeli officials have tried to downplay the importance of the meetings.
But Carter wrote he had received assurances that Hamas would accept any agreement negotiated by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel “provided it is approved either in a Palestinian referendum or by an elected government”.
He added: “When the time comes, Hamas will accept the possibility of forming a nonpartisan professional government of technocrats to govern until the next elections can be held.
“Hamas will also disband its militia in Gaza if a nonpartisan professional security force can be formed.”
Hamas would also permit Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, captured by Palestinian militants in 2006, to send a letter to his parents, Carter added.
If Israel agreed to a list of prisoners to be exchanged, and the first group was released, Corporal Shalit would be sent to Egypt, pending the final releases, Carter added.
He said Hamas would also accept a mutual ceasefire in Gaza, with the expectation that this would later include the West Bank, and international control of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt.
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Carter blasted what he described as the US policy of boycotting and punishing political factions or governments “that refuse to accept United States mandates”, calling it “counterproductive”.
To view pictures of Carter’s Middle East tour, click here.
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