Jimma Carter Embraces Hamas Official

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - Former President Jimmy Carter embraced a leading

Hamas figure Tuesday, according to participants in a meeting that infuriated

Israeli officials already upset by Carter's freelance Mideast peace mission.

Carter also laid a wreath at the grave of Yasser Arafat, whom the Bush

administration and many Israelis blame for the breakdown of peace talks

seven years ago and the violence that followed.

At a reception in the West Bank town of Ramallah organized by Carter's

office, the former president hugged Nasser Shaer, a senior Hamas politician,

meeting participants said. Embraces between men are a common custom in Arab

culture.

"He gave me a hug. We hugged each other, and it was a warm reception," Shaer

told The Associated Press. "Carter asked what he can do to achieve peace

between the Palestinians and Israel ... and I told him the possibility for

peace is high."

Carter's office refused to comment, saying he does not discuss closed

meetings.

Shaer, who served as deputy prime minister and education minister in the

Hamas-led Palestinian government that unraveled last year, is considered a

leading member of the Islamic militant group's pragmatic wing. After a stint

in an Israeli prison last year, he is now a professor at a West Bank

university, teaching comparative religion.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said Carter's meeting with

Hamas "dignified" a group committed to Israel's destruction. "One cannot but

wonder how this attitude is supposed to promote peace and understanding," he

said.

Israel and the West Bank are the first stops on a visit that also is to

include Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Syria-where the virulently

anti-Israel Hamas movement is headquartered. Shunned by his Israeli hosts

and criticized by the White House for his willingness to meet with Hamas,

Carter has urged that both stop isolating the militant group.

"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," Carter

said Tuesday.

The U.S. has also expressed displeasure at Carter's overtures to Hamas, an

Islamic group responsible for the deaths of some 250 Israelis in suicide

bombings and labeled a terrorist organization by both countries. Carter is

to meet Khaled Mashaal, the group's exiled leader, in Damascus, Syria, on

Friday.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is not meeting with Carter during his

visit, and the only Israeli leader to host him, President Shimon Peres,

scolded Carter for his planned meeting with Mashaal.

Critics say also say engaging Hamas will undermine moderate Palestinian

President Mahmoud Abbas as he tries to make peace with the Jewish state.

Abbas is in a bitter rivalry with Hamas, which routed his forces in the Gaza

Strip last year and seized control of the area.

The Israeli daily Haaretz on Tuesday criticized the government for giving

Carter, a Nobel laureate who brokered Israel's first peace agreement with an

Arab nation, a cool reception.

"The boycott will not be remembered as a glorious moment in this

government's history," the newspaper said. "Jimmy Carter has dedicated his

life to humanitarian missions, to peace, to promoting democratic elections

and to better understanding between enemies throughout the world."

Earlier this week, Carter said isolating Hamas is counterproductive and

volunteered to serve as a conduit between the group and the U.S. and Israeli

governments.

Carter acknowledged Tuesday he was not on an official mission and had "no

authority at all."

"I'm not a negotiator. I'm just trying to understand different opinions and

provide communication between people," Carter said.

When meeting Mashaal, Carter said, "I'm going to try everything I can to get

him to agree to a peaceful resolution," both with Israel and with Hamas'

internal Palestinian rivals.

Carter said he requested permission to enter Hamas-ruled Gaza but was turned

down. He did not provide details. Israel and Egypt control Gaza's border

crossings and such a visit would also require the approval of Carter's U.S.

Secret Service detail. There have been no official visits to Gaza by

Americans since Hamas won Palestinian parliamentary elections in early 2006.

President Bush did not visit Arafat's mausoleum in Ramallah when he visited

earlier this year.

Carter's office also said a request for security protection from Israel's

Shin Bet agency had not been met.

The Shin Bet said it never received a request to provide security. Stewart

Tuttle, spokesman for the U.S. Embassy, said the embassy never relayed a

request for Shin Bet protection because Carter was on a private visit.

A statement from the Carter delegation said the former president's U.S.

security detail "was always, without exception, assisted" by the Shin Bet in

previous visits after he left office. However, the statement did not

directly blame Israel.

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