Carter Embraces Hamas Official At West Bank Meeting
By JOSEF FEDERMAN,
JERUSALEM — A former president, James Carter, angered Israel's government yesterday by embracing a Hamas politician during a visit to the West Bank. Israel accused Mr. Carter, the broker of the first Arab-Israeli peace accord, of "dignifying" extremists. But Mr. Carter vowed to meet Hamas's supreme leader, Khaled Mashaal, this week in Syria.
Mr. Carter, a Nobel Peace laureate, laid a wreath at Yasser Arafat's grave in another break with American policy during a private peace mission to the Middle East that includes stops in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. Mr. Carter returns to Israel on Monday.
Mr. Carter has been shunned by Israel this week, and the White House has criticized him for his willingness to meet with Hamas leaders. Mr. Carter says America and Israel should stop isolating the group, whose control of the Gaza Strip threatens to undermine Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts. "Since Syria and Hamas will have to be involved in a final peace agreement, they have to be involved in discussions that lead to final peace," Mr. Carter said in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Mr. Carter also attended a reception organized by his office for Palestinian dignitaries in Ramallah. At the gathering, Mr. Carter embraced a senior Hamas politician, Nasser Shaer, meeting participants said. Palestinians say Mr. Shaer, a professor at a West Bank university, was not involved in Hamas attacks against Israel, and Israel has never charged him with violent activity.
