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Last update - 07:32 11/04/2008 Carter Center won't confirm rumors ex-U.S. leader to meet Hamas officials By The Associated Press Tags: Israel, Syria, Jimmy Carter 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. Advertisement 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. Israel's ambassador to the United States, Sallai Meridor, also expressed concern over such a meeting. "The unintended consequences of such a meeting would be to embolden terrorists and undermine the cause of peace," he told Reuters. 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. Related articles: Report: Ex-U.S. president Carter to meet with Hamas leader in Syria Jimmy Carter: Israel's 'apartheid' policies worse than South Africa's Bookmark to del.icio.us   'No good Jewish men' Author David Seidman delves into the dark side of dating, and confesses: 'I am a bad Jew.' Remembrance trail Holocaust memorial steam-drawn train sparks bitter row in Berlin.   1.   The first man to have brought some sort of peace to the region 21:13  |  Cartermania! 10/04/08   2.   Hamas terrorists are exactly Carter`s meat 21:45  |  x-ray 10/04/08   3.   And Thr US Is Appalled With Syria`s Human Rights Record 22:08  |  Yaakov Sullivan 10/04/08   4.   I hope everyone resigns from the Carter Center. He shames us all 22:10  |  David 10/04/08   5.   ex.... 22:44  |  Shmuelshachor 10/04/08   6.   David of Boston,you just can`t stand him because 22:49  |  Yaakov Sullivan 10/04/08   7.   yaakov sullivan`s remarks 22:59  |  brian 10/04/08   8.   # 1, Yakov, take a glass of cold water and cool off 23:03  |  Massoud Levy 10/04/08   9.   What part of "Let`s kill all jews" Carter does not understand?? 23:06  |  Massoud Levy 10/04/08   10.   The foreign policy of Jimmy Carter 23:25  |  Morris Valentine 10/04/08   11.   Carter is not to be trusted. 23:40  |  dav zee 10/04/08   12.   Carter is not to be trusted. 23:40  |  dav zee 10/04/08   13.   What a piece of dirt, this Carter is! 00:02  |  Akiva P 11/04/08   14.   Yaakow Sullivan 01:04  |  wh 11/04/08   15.   Carter can make REAL change in the Middle East 01:11  |  Proud Israeli 11/04/08   16.   They also won`t... 01:16  |  Webster 11/04/08   17.   Carter was Hamas election certifier 01:33  |  Jeff 11/04/08   18.   "Nuts" to Carter. 01:53  |  Stephen. 11/04/08   19.   # 3 Sullivan....Carter is immoral and a major 02:16  |  Lynn 11/04/08   20.   yaacov Sullivan 02:54  |  Philippe 11/04/08   21.   TALK BIOTCH 02:58  |  KHW 11/04/08   22.   Carter is a replacement theologist 03:18  |  Herbert Kaine 11/04/08   23.   Carter is a replacement theologist 03:18  |  Herbert Kaine 11/04/08   24.   HE did not learn his lesson about double dealing with Iran and 03:34  |  PETER SM 11/04/08   25.   Carter meets Meshal - the beginning of beautiful friendship: 03:43  |  17 11/04/08   26.   Herbert #15, #16 04:29  |  Webster 11/04/08   27.   From the man who brought you the Ayatollah Homeini... 04:39  |  Margie 11/04/08   28.   Carter should be barred from Israel (end) 04:45  |  Free Gilad Shalit 11/04/08   29.   Cheap criticism 05:27  |  eva 11/04/08   30.   Maybe We`ll Get Lucky.............? 06:11  |  Raoul Isaac 11/04/08   31.   Raoul my thoughts exactly 06:38  |  Joe Frazier 11/04/08   32.   Carter - Unfinished Business 06:56  |  Reid 11/04/08   33.   But one must admit, President Jimmy Carter is within 07:09  |  Smadar 11/04/08   34.   Good for President Carter! 07:25  |  Michael 11/04/08   35.   It`s about time! 07:47  |  NJ 11/04/08   36.   I WARN CARTER, BECAUSE I LOVE HIM 07:47  |  indrajaya 11/04/08   37.   EVA.Pres.Carter demonstrated his "superior understanding" to all 08:05  |  PETER SM 11/04/08   38.   You don`t make peace by talking to your friends 08:07  |  Natallie Durson 11/04/08   39.   MValentine & Carter`s intentions 09:11  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 11/04/08   40.   Jimmy Carter is an ex President and does not have to 14:23  |  lakshmi 11/04/08   41.   security concerns 02:07  |  eva 12/04/08   42.   To Margie in TA (#39) 04:48  |  Morris Valentine 12/04/08   43.   42 Morris Valentine,2 years ago jesse jackson visited the Hamas 21:57  |  lakshmi 12/04/08

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