Subscribe to Print Edition | Tue., April 22, 2008 Nisan 17, 5768 | | Israel Time: 04:31 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
  Back to Homepage
Rosner's Domain
Diplomacy
Defense Jewish World Opinion National
Print Edition
Advertising
Books Arts & Leisure Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File
Last update - 23:39 17/04/2008
Carter calls Gaza blockade a 'crime and atrocity'
By Reuters
Tags: Jimmy Carter, Cairo 

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter called the blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip a "crime and an atrocity" on Thursday, and said U.S. attempts to undermine the Islamist movement Hamas had been counterproductive.

Speaking at the American University in Cairo after talks with Hamas leaders from Gaza, Carter said Palestinians in Gaza were being "starved to death", receiving fewer calories a day than people in the poorest parts of Africa.

"It's an atrocity what is being perpetrated as punishment on the people in Gaza.It's a crime... I think it is an abomination that this continues to go on," Carter said.
Advertisement
Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza after the Islamist group Hamas seized power over the impoverished coastal strip last June. Since then, Israel has allowed only basic staples to be transported through the border crossings it controls, into Gaza.

Israel has not accepted Hamas proposals for a truce including an end to Hamas rocket attacks on Israel and to Israeli attacks on Hamas personnel in Gaza and the West Bank. Israeli officials say a truce would enable Hamas to rearm.

Carter said Israel and its ally the United States were trying to make the quality of life in Gaza markedly worse than in the West Bank, where the rival moderate Fatah faction retains power.

"I think politically speaking this has worked even to strengthen the popularity of Hamas and to the detriment of the popularity of Fatah," Carter said, remarking that the U.S. had been trying to achieve the exact opposite.

Carter, who helped broker peace between Egypt and Israel while serving as U.S. president in the 1970s, said the Hamas leaders he has met so far told him they would accept a peace agreement with Israel negotiated by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas - the Fatah leader - if the Palestinian people approved it in a referendum.

Israel and the United States say they refuse to deal with Hamas as long as the Islamist movement does not recognize Israel's right to exist and renounce violence.

But Carter said Hamas, which won Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006, had to be involved in any arrangements that could lead to peace.

"One of the reasons I wanted to come and meet with the Syrians and Hamas was to set an example that might be emulated by others... I know that there are some officials in the Israeli government that are quite willing to meet with Hamas and maybe that will happen in the near future," he added.

Carter's talks in Cairo were with former Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar and former Interior Minister Saeed Seyam, who did not speak to reporters.

Zahar and Seyam came to Cairo on Wednesday after the Israeli authorities refused to let Carter into Gaza from the Israeli side. Carter has already met a West Bank leader from Hamas and is expected to meet the group's Damascus-based political leader Khaled Meshaal in Syria later this week.

Earlier on Thursday, Carter met Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. No details were available from either side.
Bookmark to del.icio.us  
 
Undressed to impress
Yeshiva student strips in a supermarket to protest sale of chametz during Passover.
Ante up
Hamas offers truce in return for a Palestinian state along Israel's pre-1967 borders.
  1.   Gaza blockade a crime and atrocity 23:59  |  Miriam 17/04/08
  2.   Carter has the courage to speak the truth! 00:01  |  Victor 18/04/08
  3.   Call the baby by his name 00:12  |  HS 18/04/08
  4.   Boring, stupid, biased, liar 00:14  |  MR 18/04/08
  5.   #1 VICTOR - Carter is saying what he is paid to say 00:17  |  * BEN JABO 18/04/08
  6.   #1 VICTOR - Carter is saying what he is paid to say 00:17  |  * BEN JABO 18/04/08
  7.   One to talk 00:20  |  Tal 18/04/08
  8.   Carter unaffected by US Israel lobbyists 00:29  |  Phil 18/04/08
  9.   Re Victor #1 00:29  |  Esther 18/04/08
  10.   Carter...barf! barf! 00:38  |  John Holmgren 18/04/08
  11.   Carter is a friend of Israel 00:39  |  Israeli 18/04/08
  12.   Carter is the crime and atrocity... shame on him 00:41  |  dav zee 18/04/08
  13.   Carter - An SOB From the Word Go 00:43  |  Tod Zuckerman 18/04/08
  14.   a dilusional dumbass 00:43  |  SHIMON 18/04/08
  15.   Carter it`s time for the old age home 00:43  |  Proud Israeli 18/04/08
  16.   Victor`s ability to see reality 00:44  |  Rory 18/04/08
  17.   starving all of gaza into zionist submission is a war crime 00:46  |  Joel Stein 18/04/08
  18.   Should we give him the royal treatment, Haaretz? 00:47  |  Robert 18/04/08
  19.   talk to Hamas? 00:51  |  yuval 18/04/08
  20.   Carter,no surprise 00:51  |  Salty1 18/04/08
  21.   A FOOL AND HIS MARBLES ARE SOON PARTED. eom. 00:51  |  d.dor 18/04/08
  22.   Carter is not the first, nor will he be the last 00:53  |  Ray 18/04/08
  23.   "a crime and atrocity" 00:54  |  Shmuelshachor 18/04/08
  24.   Killer Rabbit! 00:55  |  Andrew M 18/04/08
  25.   Amen to Carter! 01:00  |  Ismail 18/04/08
  26.   Victor, you = Carter 01:05  |  Linichka 18/04/08
  27.   Little too late 01:12  |  Marcello 18/04/08
  28.   Bravo Mr Carter I wish you did more when you were president 01:19  |  Gisele 18/04/08
  29.   Victor, chill now 01:22  |  Nicholas 18/04/08
  30.   carter has a lot in common with perez 01:26  |  jon 18/04/08
  31.   What a joke! 01:36  |  Cynic 18/04/08
  32.   Pres. Carter 01:43  |  Don Trautman 18/04/08
  33.   Will Carter get Shalit in return for kissing feet of terrorists?? 01:45  |  Voice of Reason 18/04/08
  34.   Strange- Not Too many Israel response 01:46  |  Johnny 18/04/08
  35.   I attended the speech of... 01:47  |  AUC Alumini 18/04/08
  36.   Carter is a Jew Hater. Full Stop! 01:48  |  DWOLF 18/04/08
  37.   Carter 01:51  |  Tory 18/04/08
  38.   Carter is right.War crimes-not in our name 01:53  |  Occpation Magazine 18/04/08
  39.   Clear proof the dishonesty and bigotry that is Carter`s trademark 01:54  |  Dr. L. Brnd 18/04/08
  40.   God bless you Jimmy Carter 02:01  |  NEJ 18/04/08
  41.   Odd that Carter should side with terrorists 02:06  |  Mike 18/04/08
  42.   J Carter 02:06  |  Jake 18/04/08
  43.   Israel. The target for annihilation, Carter Hamas style. 02:07  |  Stephen. 18/04/08
  44.   Carter on the Gaza Blockade 02:17  |  Tzvee Ben Aharon 18/04/08
  45.   MISSION ACCOMPLISHED 02:23  |  Mark of Lewiston 18/04/08
  46.   Carter Doesn`t Recognize the Truth 02:26  |  Brad 18/04/08
  47.   hamas vs Fatah 02:36  |  yuval 18/04/08
  48.   carter in Gaza 02:43  |  Abe 18/04/08
  49.   what a dummy 02:44  |  antoine 18/04/08
  50.   Strip off the Crime and Atrocity? How? 02:48  |  Zev 18/04/08
  51.   who is interested in the peace?Salute to Carter 02:59  |  Zaki 18/04/08
  52.   Carter is going to damage us again 03:00  |  Sam C 18/04/08
  53.   Carter is a good man 03:04  |  David King 18/04/08
  54.   You know what else is a "crime and atrocity?" 03:06  |  Evan Gildenblatt 18/04/08
  55.   carter used to be one of the good guys,but hes nothing 03:09  |  terrornator 18/04/08
  56.   Haaretz, you don`t like what I said? 03:34  |  MR 18/04/08
  57.   carter the B.S. go to darfur 03:34  |  baba lalou 18/04/08
  58.   Maybe he and his groups can build some houses in Gaza 03:42  |  Stuart Wilder 18/04/08
  59.   Never once a word for 750,000 DARFUR martyrs from Carter 03:50  |  Genuine Tosefta 18/04/08
  60.   The Peanut Farmer turned Middle East Expert 03:53  |  George W. Bush 18/04/08
  61.   The man is lopsided on his views. 04:08  |  mum says 18/04/08
  62.   Forget Carter 04:11  |  Eugenio 18/04/08
  63.   #1; Victor, the whining continues 04:13  |  Doc Holliday 18/04/08
  64.   Thank God Carter Doesn`t Speak For 98% Of Americans 04:20  |  Dish It Out 18/04/08
  65.   Thank God Carter Doesn`t Speak For 98% Of Americans 04:20  |  Dish It Out 18/04/08
  66.   What would Peanut Brain do if rockets were fired at him? 04:30  |  Elly 18/04/08
  67.   candy after atrocities 04:32  |  JT 18/04/08
  68.   How true! A crime & an atrocity! End the vile siege you rotters! 04:48  |  lakshmi 18/04/08
  69.   The Real Crimes And Atrocities!!! 04:56  |  Yosemite 18/04/08
  70.   Starving the Gazans to death 04:57  |  john 18/04/08
  71.   Carter destroyed his credibility 05:06  |  Conroy 18/04/08
  72.   Conroy the bonehead 05:20