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Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter giving a speech in Jerusalem earlier this week after talks in Syria and Egypt with Hamas leaders. (Reuters)
Last update - 20:15 23/04/2008
Carter: Rice statement untrue, I wasn't warned not to meet Hamas
By Reuters
Tags: U.S. State Department 

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter denied on Wednesday that the U.S. State Department warned him not to meet with leaders of the Islamist group Hamas before he made a recent trip to the Middle East.

Carter said Hamas' Syria-based political leader Khaled Meshal told him during meetings in Damascus on Friday and Saturday that Hamas would "accept a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders if approved by Palestinians."

The United States brushed off the comments on Monday, arguing that Hamas' basic stance, which includes a call in its charter for the destruction of Israel, had not changed.
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The State Department has said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State David Welch, the top U.S. diplomat for the Middle East, urged Carter not to meet with Hamas, a position restated by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, but Carter denied this.

"No one in the State Department or any other department of the U.S. government ever asked him [Carter] to refrain from his recent visit to the Middle East or even suggested that he not meet with Syrian President [Bashar] Assad or leaders of Hamas," said a statement released by the Atlanta-based Carter Center, which speaks on the former president's behalf.

Hamas, which controls Gaza, is viewed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Israel.

The Carter Center statement said the former president attempted to call Rice before making the trip and a deputy returned his call since Rice was in Europe.

"They had a very pleasant discussion for about 15 minutes, during which he never made any of the negative or cautionary comments described above. He never talked to anyone else," the Carter Center statement said.

"President Carter has the greatest respect for ... Rice and believes her to be a truthful person. However, perhaps inadvertently, she is continuing to make a statement that is not true," the statement said.

Carter's reference to the 1967 borders spoke of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which Israel occupied in the 1967 Six-Day War, and to a referendum on a peace deal Washington hopes to clinch this year.

Hamas won a 2006 election and briefly formed a unity government with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. It seized control of Gaza from Abbas' secular Fatah faction in fighting in June.

Hamas has refused to accept major conditions laid down by the quartet of Middle East peace mediators. Those nations include the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union.

Related articles:
  • Meshal offers 10-year truce for Palestinian state on '67 borders
  • Haaretz.com TV: Carter meets Hamas official, calls for group to be included in peace talks
  • Hamas: We'll give final response to truce proposal on Thursday
  • Obama slams Carter for meeting Hamas, tries to reassure Jewish voters
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      1.   carter lies while he fights for the destruction of Israel 20:45  |  Avram 23/04/08
      2.   He said, she said 20:46  |  Aphemia 23/04/08
      3.   Whom do you trust? 20:58  |  Mike 23/04/08
      4.   Liar, liar, pants on fire 21:12  |  Leo 23/04/08
      5.   Before Carter`s visit 21:20  |  Lynn 23/04/08
      6.   Wait till the written evidence is presented # 1 21:22  |  Fortuna Benmayor 23/04/08
      7.   I trust Jimmy 21:24  |  Jerrold Cohen 23/04/08
      8.   Carter Shows Hes Truly Is A Idiot & Lives In A Fantasy World 21:30  |  Shepherd 23/04/08
      9.   The Carter center supports its puppet 21:32  |  Zev 23/04/08
      10.   God bless you Jimmy Carter--Rice is history 21:42  |  Labhras 23/04/08
      11.   #1 - Mike the comedian 21:45  |  Jesse 23/04/08
      12.   Carter is mentally ill 21:53  |  Shira 23/04/08
      13.   to 6 &7 21:54  |  elsie 23/04/08
      14.   Carter is telling the truth. 22:23  |  Deborah 23/04/08
      15.   now you love rice 22:24  |  billy jack 23/04/08
      16.   Carter, you should have known better 22:36  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 23/04/08
      17.   Carter getting senile 23:09  |  Joe Frazier 23/04/08
      18.   #14 deborah and speaking for everyone 23:36  |  v hardman 23/04/08
      19.   kohn Interplanetary traveller back from outer space 23:37  |  Labhras 23/04/08
      20.   CARTER FOR PRESIDENT 2008 23:39  |  Black Man 23/04/08
      21.   #15, you don`t have to like Rice to believe she`s telling truth 23:43  |  McQueen 23/04/08
      22.   It`s True 23:54  |  Dennis 23/04/08
      23.   Carter and the revisionists 23:58  |  peter 23/04/08
      24.   ONE of THEM 23:59  |  THE TEACHER/INSTRUCT 23/04/08
      25.   # 7. Jerrold Cohen 00:00  |  Dennis 24/04/08
      26.   Carter probably forgot being told... 00:06  |  Jim 24/04/08
      27.   I hope we will see the same Israeli support here for Condi....... 00:10  |  Swiss (Dino) 24/04/08
      28.   #11 Jesse 00:14  |  Dennis 24/04/08
      29.   Every newspaper had articles warning about him not to visit HAMA 00:38  |  r 24/04/08
      30.   DID RICE TELL THE TRUTH WHEN SHE TOLD THE WORLD 01:25  |  JoeMomma 24/04/08
      31.   To all JIMMY CARTER Gurus 01:26  |  Gil 24/04/08
      32.   To all JIMMY CARTER Gurus (#18) 01:27  |  Gil 24/04/08
      33.   CARTER FOR PRESIDENT 2008; YES!!!!!!!!!!!! 01:54  |  fed-up-with-lies 24/04/08
      34.   To Labhras (#18):On knowing better 02:45  |  Morris Valentine 24/04/08
      35.   whom do you trust? 02:51  |  wibism 24/04/08
      36.   Jerrold Cohen - trusting Carter 02:57  |  mary hughes 24/04/08
      37.   Jimmy Carter is getting senile and can`t tell fact from fiction 03:04  |  Nechama 24/04/08
      38.   The heartbreak senility explains Carter`s confusion 03:33  |  Voice of Reason 24/04/08
      39.   Bush administration has lied a number of times. 03:55  |  Jozef 24/04/08
      40.   Rice is Straight Shooter & Has No Reason to Lie 04:09  |  PK 24/04/08
      41.   bush administration is a lie 04:13  |  sam i am 24/04/08
      42.   Why must Carter Center speak for him? 04:19  |  PK 24/04/08
      43.   Rice & Peanuts don`t go together 04:22  |  PK 24/04/08
      44.   Carter is not senile 04:33  |  Daniel 24/04/08
      45.   PETER#23 04:36  |  Courcey 24/04/08
      46.   Carter is too high to take warnings from the stupid Rice 05:05  |  Aounist 24/04/08
      47.   #19 labhras - and what is that DARK HOLE between your ears? 08:28  |  CK Tan 24/04/08
      48.   #45 Courcey 08:30  |  CK Tan 24/04/08
      49.   swiss d on Singapore`s chewing GUM and the DEATH penalty 09:35  |  CK Tan 24/04/08
      50.   carter 11:17  |  tony quantrell 24/04/08
      51.   Rice-a-roni 13:12  |  Jack Sprat 24/04/08
      52.   swiss d LIVES in a FOG but thinks he SEES the LIGHT (last try) 13:44  |  CK Tan 24/04/08
      53.   israels shame Carters right! 17:32  |  The Big Raven 24/04/08
      54.   Classlessnes 17:44  |  Leouna 24/04/08
      55.   Carter saved Israel 22:34  |  masmanz 24/04/08
      56.   Avram#1. May be you are not aware MR CATER is 100% Truthful 23:10  |  Joshua BH 24/04/08
      57.   Carter is a true American. 04:35  |  B.W. Bowen 25/04/08
      58.   How many more lies?? 07:00  |  Syed Abdillah 25/04/08
      59.   Carter,Spirit of the Mayflower 07:08  |  Syed Abdillah 25/04/08
      60.   Carter is a true Hero 10:30  |  David 29/04/08
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