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Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter (Nir Keidar) Last update - 19:22 22/04/2008 Obama wary of Carter's report of breakthrough with Hamas By Reuters Tags: Jimmy Carter  Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama on Tuesday expressed wariness about former U.S. President Jimmy Carter's report of progress in his meetings with leaders of the Islamist Palestinian group Hamas. Obama criticized the decision by Carter, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, to hold meetings with the group as a "bad idea." Carter said Hamas' leaders told him they would accept a peace deal with Israel if the Palestinians voted for it. But some of the commitments to Carter were short on details and remarks by a Gaza-based Hamas official suggested the movement was not abandoning long-held positions. Advertisement "I think that what we're seeing now is that even as President Carter suggests there was breakthrough, you had some of the same old rhetoric coming out of Hamas representatives with regard to Israel," Obama told reporters while campaigning in Pennsylvania, which was holding an important vote on Tuesday in the Democratic nomination fight. Hamas is viewed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Israel and its charter calls for the destruction of Israel. Obama echoed the Bush administration's view that the United States should focus its efforts of encouraging talks between moderate Palestinian leaders and Israel rather than trying to engage Hamas. "I think it's very important for the United States to actively engage in helping bring about negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis," said Obama, an Illinois senator who is vying against Democratic New York Sen. Hillary Clinton for the right to face Republican John McCain in the November election. Obama welcomed the willingness of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is not part of Hamas, to sit down with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and said, "I think that's where our energy should go." Carter's meeting with Hamas representatives has created awkwardness for bama, whose critics have sought to raise doubts about the strength of his support for Israel in order to weaken his standing with U.S. Jewish voters. Carter has not publicly backed either candidate in the Democratic race but hinted recently that he supports Obama. Hamas, which won a 2006 election and briefly formed a unity government with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, seized control of Gaza from his secular Fatah faction in fighting in June. Abbas: Carter 'failed' to talk Hamas into two-state peace deal Meanwhile, Abbas said on Tuesday that Carter failed in his attempt to talk Hamas into accepting a future two-state peace deal with Israel. "Carter gave them [Hamas] the right advice," Abbas told reporters in Iceland, where he made a stopover en route to talks with U.S. President George W. Bush in the United States. "He urged Hamas to accept a two-state solution and accept past Palestinian agreements with Israel, but unfortunately he failed to convince them and his visit did not end up with positive results." Also Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the Bush administration explicitly warned Carter against meeting with members of Hamas, the Palestinian faction that controls the Gaza Strip and which is regarded by the U.S. as a terror group. Rice, attending a regional meeting on Iraq's security and future, contradicted Carter's assertions that he never got a clear signal from the State Department. Rice told reporters that the U.S. thought the visit could confuse the message that the U.S. will not deal with Hamas. "I just don't want there to be any confusion," Rice said. "The United States is not going to deal with Hamas and we had certainly told President Carter that we did not think meeting with Hamas was going to help further a political settlement between Israel and the Palestinians." In an interview with the U.S.' National Public Radio, Carter said the State Department did not warn him off the trip. A State Department spokesman in Washington took issue with that on Monday, and Rice was more blunt in her account Tuesday. Rice had heard questions about Carter's meetings several times during two days of Iraq-themed meetings in the Middle East, with some diplomats wondering whether the Bush administration was talking to Hamas through the back door or contemplating a different policy in the future. Rice said U.S. policy remains that it will deal only with the elected Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and his West Bank-based government as it tried to help Israel and the Palestinians broker terms for an independent Palestinian state. Carter: Hamas ready to accept Israel's right to live in peace Carter said top Hamas leaders told him during seven hours of talks in Damascus over the weekend that Hamas is prepared to accept Israel's right to live in peace. Hamas is also ready to accept the outcome of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, provided it is approved in a Palestinian referendum or by a Palestinian government chosen in new elections, Carter said. However, Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal in Damascus spoke of a Palestinian state on land captured by Israel in 1967 and said Hamas would not recognize Israel. Meshal said Hamas would "respect the Palestinian national will even if it was against our convictions." Carter met in Damascus with Meshal and other Hamas leaders on Friday. He told reporters on Monday that "there's no doubt that both the Arab world and the Palestinians, including Hamas, will accept Israel's right to live in peace within the 1967 borders. Carter returned to Jerusalem this week to brief Israeli leaders on his talks with Meshal regarding a proposed truce in the Gaza Strip and an exchange of prisoners. The Egyptian state-run newspaper al-Ahram reported Tuesday that Egypt and Hamas have drafted an agreement of principles on a cease-firebetween the Islamist Palestinian group and Israel. Hamas officials have said before they would establish a peace in stages if Israel were to withdraw to the pre-1967 Six-Day War borders. But it has been evasive about how it sees the final borders of a Palestinian state, and has not abandoned its official call for Israel's destruction. "They said they would accept a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders if approved by Palestinians ... even though Hamas might disagree with some terms of the agreement," Carter said in a speech, after talks in Syria and Egypt with Hamas leaders. Carter, in a speech in Jerusalem Monday that capped a nine-day visit to the Middle East, referred to Palestinian Authority President Abbas and said Hamas will not "undermine Abbas' efforts to negotiate an agreement and Hamas will accept an agreement if the Palestinians support it in a free vote." Carter said he was told by Hamas that a referendum on a peace deal must be preceded by its reconciliation with Abbas' Fatah faction. The Hamas spokesman in the Gaza Strip, Sami Abu-Zuhri, said Palestinian refugees living in exile must be included in the voting - a condition that could complicate approval of a deal. Abu-Zuhri also noted that Hamas would regard any future Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip as "transitional." Carter told reporters that the Hamas leaders he met "didn't say anything about transitional." Carter said Hamas turned down his proposal for a 30-day unilateral cease-fire with Israel but Egypt would continue its efforts to mediate a truce. "I did the best I could on that," Carter said of his failure to persuade Hamas to halt rocket fire from the Gaza Strip. Letter from Shalit Carter also told Trade Minister Eli Yishai that Hamas was ready to release another letter from abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit to his family. The Islamists had no opposition to releasing Shalit as part of a prisoner swap, he said, and Carter asked Yishai to consider meeting with officials in Egypt regarding Shalit's release. Yishai responded that he has already met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and the Egyptian intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, on the matter, but said he would consider another meeting. Defense sources praised the promise to pass on another letter from Shalit as a result of Carter's visit, but view it mostly as a humanitarian gesture, which says nothing about progress in the negotiations to free Shalit. It is also hard to evaluate Meshal's influence on the senior leaders of the Hamas military wing in Gaza. The former U.S. president told Yishai that Meshal had appreciated Yishai's offer to meet with the Islamist group regarding the Shalit deal, but did not want to compromise Egyptian mediation. Carter's statements on an agreement for a possible prisoner swap are not significantly different from previous ones reached in the past with Egyptian help, said Israeli officials. The sought-after deal has been stuck for months. After the meeting with Carter, Yishai spoke with Gilad's father, Noam Shalit, and with Ofer Dekel, who is responsible for negotiations for the return of the abducted soldiers. Noam Shalit said there was nothing new in Carter's statements, and that Meshal has repeated himself a number of times but has taken no practical action. Carter said direct communication between Israel and Hamas could facilitate the release of Shalit. According to Carter, Meshal has promised that Shalit, who was kidnapped in a cross-border raid in June 2006, is in good physical health. "We do not believe that peace is likely and certainly that peace is not sustainable unless a way is found to bring Hamas into the discussions in some way," Carter said. "The present strategy of excluding Hamas and excluding Syria is just not working." Carter added that Israeli-Palestinian peace making has regressed since the Annapolis conference last November. Related articles: Rice criticizes Carter over planned meeting with Meshal Report: Egypt and Hamas draft deal for Hamas-Israel cease-fire Carter: U.S. would not stand in way of Israel-Syria peace deal Jimmy Carter: Israel must talk to everyone Noam Shalit: The fact that Carter isn't pro-Israel may be beneficial Bookmark to del.icio.us   JDate wins the 'Oscars' The leading Jewish dating Web site is an official honoree of the Webby Awards. 'Worse than Nazi camp' A Libyan envoy to the UN says the situation in Gaza is worse than in concentration camps.   1.   Carter is free to meet with who he likes. 16:34  |  POP 22/04/08   2.   He thinks he is G-d 16:43  |  jackie 22/04/08   3.   then what? 16:45  |  royzer 22/04/08   4.   Condi, I`m afraid if Carters mission becomes a success...... 16:48  |  Swiss (Dino) 22/04/08   5.   Make Jimmy Carter The 1st Charged With The Logan Act 17:37  |  Dish It Out 22/04/08   6.   Good work Carter 18:03  |  Tarik 22/04/08   7.   4. Swiss (Dino): A success for whom? 18:16  |  KUTW 22/04/08   8.   warning about trying to make peace 18:43  |  Robin 22/04/08   9.   #4 swiss dino 18:53  |  HARALD 22/04/08   10.   Lets total up all the Carter lies from just this trip... 18:56  |  Dr. L. Brnd 22/04/08   11.   Swiss Dino ....Com` on 18:57  |  Dave from Chicago 22/04/08   12.   Abbas Makes More Sense Than Carter 19:12  |  Yosemite 22/04/08   13.   Jimmy supports religous fanatics, stabs secularists in back 19:16  |  Voice of Reason 22/04/08   14.   # 4 Swiss...what mission? 19:28  |  Lynn 22/04/08   15.   Swiss Dino #4 19:39  |  David Israel 22/04/08   16.   Jimmy & Hamas 19:44  |  angeluv3mc 22/04/08   17.   The unasked question 20:11  |  Goldberg 22/04/08   18.   # 7 HARALD 20:16  |  Swiss (Dino) 22/04/08   19.   Ok Mr. Abbas shows us what you can deliver? 20:17  |  El-Birawi 22/04/08   20.   there was no breakthrough just $$$$$$$$ 20:21  |  Avram 22/04/08   21.   # 9 Dave from Chicago (Obama fan ???) 20:22  |  Swiss (Dino) 22/04/08   22.   There`s no fool like an old fool 20:23  |  Nemesis 22/04/08   23.   # 12 Lynn 20:25  |  Swiss (Dino) 22/04/08   24.   Slip of the tongue.... 20:29  |  Blogowitz 22/04/08   25.   # 13 David Israel 20:38  |  Swiss (Dino) 22/04/08   26.   Lol 20:39  |  Colin Wright 22/04/08   27.   Obama wary of Carter`s report? or is Obama weary of a Carter 20:51  |  common sense 22/04/08   28.   Nixon had more respect than Carter, when he left office 20:54  |  Murray the Mongoose 22/04/08   29.   #1 POP the POOPER 22:02  |  POP`S KEEPER 22/04/08   30.   Different Levels Of Know Senator Obama 22:06  |  Yosemite 22/04/08   31.   Carter Breaks Out in Peace Talk 22:22  |  Zev 22/04/08   32.   Swiss - maybe you are Dino Riefenstahl 22:59  |  David Israel 22/04/08   33.   Carter`s betrayal 01:06  |  Friend of Israel 23/04/08   34.   never never land 01:11  |  sechel 23/04/08   35.   Carter`s betrayal 01:16  |  Friend of Israel 23/04/08   36.   #21 Swiss (Dino) 04:41  |  * BEN JABO 23/04/08   37.   Obama needs Carter like a drowning man needs an anchor 04:50  |  * BEN JABO 23/04/08   38.   Rice is a moron 08:11  |  Marilyn 23/04/08   39.   Re Different Levels Of Know Senator Obama 16:38  |  Mora 24/04/08

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