Carter Calls Gaza Blockade a Crime and Atrocity
CAIRO - Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter called the blockade of Gaza 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.
Israel has been blockading Gaza most of the time since Hamas took control of the impoverished coastal strip in June last year, allowing only basic supplies to enter.
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 Fatah group is in control.
“I think politically speaking this has worked even to strengthen the popularity of Hamas and to the detriment of the popularity of Fatah,” he added. The United States has been trying to achieve the opposite outcome.
“EXAMPLE TO BE EMULATED”
Carter, who helped make peace between Egypt and Israel while 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 Mahmoud Abbas — the Fatah leader and Palestinian president — if the Palestinians 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 al-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 overall leader Khaled Meshaal in Damascus.
Earlier on Thursday, Carter met Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. No details were available from either side.
© 2008 Reuters
Carter may have not been the “right” guy for president, but he sure as hell would make a great Sec’y of State!
Why Hillary and Obama pledge to support Israel if attacked by Iran is beyond comprehension. For a real look at why the world should completely divest from Israel can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYJxeEVa_0M&eurl=http://www.openyourmindseye.blogspot.com/
This article is from Reuters. Will it make it to the mainstream media? What do you think? And if it did, what would the headlines say?
Jimmy Carter, given the GOP opponents he faced was the right president for both elections. Let’s get real! He’s the best president we’ve had in 45 years. Oh, yeah, some want like me saying that, and I don’t give a damn!
Thank you, President Carter, for having the courage to speak the truth!
Yes, it is a crime and an atrocity, it is simply indefencable. It is also ludicrous to presume that this is going to enhance Israeli security or international image. Indeed, it is just fodder for anti-Zionists who don’t report that Israel is delivering humanitarian aid.
I am a staunch Zionist (which does not necessarily mean supporter of the Israeli govt) but restricting supplies to only “basic necessities” is misguided. Though don’t forget that it is Israel that is sending humanitarian aid (food, medical supplies). But this won’t stop one terrorist from launching rockets against civilians in Sderot. The only way to end the rocket attacks is…
a) admit “land for peace” is an abject failure and reoccupy Gaza and perpetuate the cycle of violence, death and misery
b) try to appease Hamas by withdrawing Israel’s borders to the sea…
c) pay due considerable compensation to the Gazan Palestinians and deport them to Egypt.
http://rebelconservative.blogspot.com
4thefuture-
Not sure about mainstream media in the West, but Arutz Sheva (Israeli media, right-wing, pro-settler) has reported it.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/125929
It is always good to get both sides of a story
rebel_conservative wrote: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/125929
It is always good to get both sides of a story
Just love the picture of Carter Arafat (BOTH Peace Prize winners) with the caption: Carter has met openly with Arab terrorists.
Does Arutz Sheva have the same script writer as Rush Limbaugh?
“rebel conservative” — if you are a zionist, then you support the murderous, sadistic and cruel israeli government…please do not try to distance yourself from it. in addition, your “solutions” are EXACTLY what the zionist government would present as the only “options” which of course, means no options at all; and therefore the perfect excuse to continue the hateful policies.
CS
WTF-
Are you suggesting that Arafat was not a terrorist…?
Yet you same progressifucks didn’t lift a finger or make a simple whimper of protest when the Berlin Wall went up…hmmmm…
The Berlin Wall went up decades before most of the posters here were born. What’s your point?
Didn’t anybody else see the TV segment that, years ago, showed
Jimmy Carter happily signing a bill authorizing this country to sell arms to ANY country that requested them?
I wrote to him re. this, after he sent an appeal for money for a non-orofit; he never answered.
rebel_conservative asked: Are you suggesting that Arafat was not a terrorist…?
Israel is alone in calling Arafat a terrorist. The rest of the world thinks differently.
Carter armed, trained and funded Arab extremists in Afghanistan in 1979 to fight the Soviets. They were then called the Mujahideen they are now called al-Qaeda.
Carter is right about the Palestinians and Israel. It is an atrocity what Israel is doing to the people of Gaza, with American compliance. America should be ashamed.
Can anyone tell me, what is Israel’s policy with respect to the Palestinians? Is it to eliminate them, to live with them, to govern them?
Zionist terrorists are armed with the most modern weaponry - and yet the Palestinians receive no decent arms from the rest of the world to defend themselves from these heinous Nazi emulators. This is the real atrocity - armed nations attacking civilian populations and then complaining about their shoddy rockets. What hypocrisy.
rebel conservative,
are you suggesting that Ariel Sharon ( a wanted war criminal) is not a terrorist? Or Menachim Begin? Or Golda Mier? And the various military leaders of the Isreali Destructive Force????
What koolaid are you on?
Pfek-lar -
My dad wasn’t even born when the Berlin Wall went up.
WTF-
Arafat not a terrorist…?
Congratulations, you win “Honourable mention” at the Inaugural Willful-Blindness Awards!
horrified - you must be a traditional conservative - you actually use your brain.
horrified-
“are you suggesting that Ariel Sharon ( a wanted war criminal) is not a terrorist? Or Menachim Begin? Or Golda Mier? And the various military leaders of the Isreali Destructive Force????”
It depends on your definition of terrorism.
As I define terrorism as a violent act, deliberately targeting civilians, specifically designed to create fear for political ends, I would say they are not.
If your definition of terrorism includes having disregard for the safety of civilians during anti-terror operations, then perhaps they are.
Sooo….you are saying that Ariel did not do that in Sabra and Shatilla? The IDF bombing of apartment buildings is not a definition of deliberate targeting of civilian population? Or IDF bulldozing homes with people in it?
Are you suggesting Palestinians are not humans?
Are you one of those racist Zionist that said “Palestinians are beasts on two leg” ? ( I think it was Moshe Dayan)….
you must have a filtered news source to not see the atrocities committed by the racist regime of Israel…
Menachem Begin certainly committed terrorist acts when he was with the Stern Gang.
Arafat was many things, terrorist, kleptocrat, rat bastard who hung his own people out to dry too many times to count, etc.
Pity the Palestinians that he is the “best” they could come up with.
@rebel_conservative
Your ad hominem attacks aside, the official policy of the US and the UN is that Arafat was not a terrorist.
Israel, the new Nazi state.
Anyway, back to Jimmy Carter. Is he a liberal, a traditional consevative, progressive, or what? Or is he something a bit transcendtal? From what comes such inspiration that isn’t first colored by self-importance, self-preservation or plain old self-rightousness (racism, nationalism included here)???
I dont really think its about older and wiser. Its about taking on (anybody can do it) the challenge to really care about others and expose the darkness wherever…whenever.
There’s no legitimate reason to single out the barbarity of the palestinian resistance, both sides have a lot of incredibly barbaric blood and suffering on their hands…that debate is a distraction.
the obvious problem is that one group is attempting to steal the land of another. who can allow that to stand? they must be stopped by any means possible and made to pay reparations.
horrified -
“Sooo….you are saying that Ariel did not do that in Sabra and Shatilla? The IDF bombing of apartment buildings is not a definition of deliberate targeting of civilian population? Or IDF bulldozing homes with people in it?”
As I said, I don’t regard disregarding the potential for human casualties when conducting anti-terror activities as terrorism. If you do, then according to your definition, they are acts of terrorism.
“Are you suggesting Palestinians are not humans?”
I never suggested that for a second
“Are you one of those racist Zionist that said “Palestinians are beasts on two leg” ? ( I think it was Moshe Dayan)….”
No.
“you must have a filtered news source to not see the atrocities committed by the racist regime of Israel…”
I am sure that is true, we all filter the news to fit our own preconceived bias. You must have a filtered news source to not see the atrocities committed by the Arab governments and terrorists.
WTF-
the US and the UN could say the moon was made of cheese, it wouldn’t make it so.
the US and the UN could say OJ wasn’t guilty, it wouldn’t make him innocent.
Arafat was a terrorist, whether the US and the UN care to acknowledge that is immaterial.
I think we’re slinging the word ‘terrorist’ around a bit too much. Arafat was fighting a vicious occupation by barbaric terrorist invaders/occupiers - barbarism is a characteristic of war, and the Zionist terrorists started that war. They bombed the King David - did they threaten to do the same in London and New York as well? We’ll never know why the world capitulated to their terrorism, but we do know the consequences - a lifetime of murder and misery for the innocent Palestinians who had nothing to do with Nazi Germany. And let’s not forget that Zionism embraced Nazi tactics right from the start - and fascism as well. This was never about ‘holocaust survivors’ - most of my own family survived, and we didn’t insist on our own country on somebody else’s property. We worked to rebuild on the ruins left by the Nazis and paid cash for everything. We didn’t steal - and we didn’t use lawyers to try to get ‘reparations’ - we just picked up the pieces and started over. That takes courage - something lacking in those who use military hardware to terrorize civilians and steal their land, homes, water, and even dignity.
There are those who attempt to resolve their unsatisfied desires with violence, and there are good people who get on with their lives in a constructive and peaceful way.
There are also those who sit on the sidelines and in a voyeuristic creepy way arouse themselves with virtual anger, as if that is somehow an adequate substitute for getting off their backsides and making the world a better place.
People: there are lonely old aged people in old aged homes in your neighbourhood. There are animals on death row in animal shelters.
You really want to make the world a better place? Go visit one of these lonely people for an hour a week. Or adopt one of these doomed animals and be kind to it.
Whatever is going on far away in the Middle East is a fetish for violence between two warring parties dressed as ideology. War has always been that way. Human nature does not change. Including our failure to learn from history that there is nothing novel in this. Same reprehensible tribal rhetoric from people arbitrarily members of one tribe or another, claiming that their tribal identity is uniquely important.
Put your god-damned guns down all you idiots, and your ridiculous one-eyed online encouragements (as though for a football team) for one or the other side you freaky arm chair war lords: walk your dogs, visit your elderly.
mmmooo: my dog came from a pound, I live in one of those prisons-for-the-used-up-people myself, and my family rebuilt on their own. But I’m never letting go of my guns - one of which was my mother’s - because when the Nazis came, they had a list of registered guns and they went around and collected all those firearms so there would be no ‘resistance’ to their occupation. Violence is ugly - but sometimes it comes knocking whether you want it to or not. And I’d rather take one invader/occupier/attacker with me when I go than just lay down and die without a fight.
It is the bravery and audacity of Carter at times like these that makes me respect the man tremendously and think that he is the finest ex President the US has ever had.
“It is the bravery and audacity of Carter at times like these that makes me respect the man tremendously and think that he is the finest ex President the US has ever had.”
As do I.
Carter has the sense and integrity to stay out of the muck displayed in some of the posts above.
Terrorist, Zionist, protector, honorable fighter - they mean nothing when trying to broker peace. Peace cannot exist when those labels exist. Only when one looks at the people behind the labels, as does Carter, can one begin to address the humanity and get to the real problems.
Jimmy Carter—a man without a label. And as far as the Corpstream media goes, he’s also a “man without a country.” This nation does not deserve to have this man as their former president. He has more integrity in his little finger than most have in their entire family. Maybe that is why he is might as well be invisible here—no one recognizes a statesman anymore, since it’s been so damned long since we’ve had one in the White House.
The prophet reviled in his own land… that’s Carter alright.
Anyway, back to Jimmy Carter. Is he a liberal, a traditional consevative, progressive, or what? Or is he something a bit transcendental? From what comes such inspiration that isn’t first colored by self-importance, self-preservation or plain old self-rightousness (racism, nationalism included here)???
I dont really think its about older and wiser. Its about taking on (anybody can do it) the challenge to really care about others and expose the darkness wherever…whenever.
Go Jimmy- It’s your birthday!! Good for him! At least somebody is standing up for the Palestinians! This country is so duped by AIPAC and our complicit media but people are slowly starting to see the light! Maybe someday people will see the truth of Israel. Maybe there was a good reason God destroyed then in 70AD! They pissed him off!!
When George Herbert Walker Bush (W’s dad) considered the question of using torture on terrorists, they looked to the Israeli secret police’s policy which was- its ok.
Israel has no conscience, it only has a thirst for money and power.
Any country/race that considers itself above all others (the chosen ones) should be considered dangerous. Hitler and the Nazi’s were dangerous, Israel is just as dangerous.
Well, well, well. It didn’t take long but Michigan Repug Joe Knollenberg just intoduced legislation to prohibit federal funding of the Carter Center due to Mr Carters efforts to undo the damage of our current idiot in chief. Here’s a link to his letter on “terrorist” Jimmy Carter by Knollengerg. I urge all those in Michigan to raise hell.
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/webreturn/?url=http://www.house.gov/knollenberg
The Palestinians, the Iranians…should all come out publicly and declare “We hereby clearly and definitively recognise Israel’s right to exist…just not on Paletstianian land”… all kidding aside (though this is the crux of the problem) Carter was the best President this country ever had…his decisions were right looking back in hindsight, his decisions in the Middle East were right (Obama should listen to him, I hope secretly he does and is just playing politics), his decision to get this country on wind and solar back in the 70s that the Republicans killed when Reagan took power was the right one, we the American people were really stupid not to re-elect him, our country would be using 50% less oil today if Carter and Democrats would have continually been elected, we’d have today a huge budget surplus and national health care if Democrats (like Feingold, Boxer, Franks… not Lieberman, Clinton, Reid) had continually been elected. We Americans deserve the franken foods we’re forced to eat, the media we’re forced to watch and our gas at 4$ (I hope it goes to 10$) then maybe the Republicans, half of America, will finally wake up.
Thank you, president Carter.
armybrat-
“I think we’re slinging the word ‘terrorist’ around a bit too much.”
I don’t sling the word around. Hamas and Fatah both carry out violent acts deliberately targeting Jewish civilians, in order to create a climate of fear to achieve a specific political end. That is terrorism.
“Arafat was fighting a vicious occupation by barbaric terrorist invaders/occupiers”
I would not call him a terrorist if he only attacked military positions, but he didn’t, he deliberately targeted civilians.
“barbarism is a characteristic of war”
nice to see you can excuse Arafat for deliberately killing innocent civilians, yet attack Israel for killing civilians when conducting anti-terror operations against the people firing rockets into Sderot.
“the Zionist terrorists…”
Now who is slinging the word around…?
“…started that war.”
Don’t forget that the Arab countries invaded Israel, to destroy Israel and kill every Jew. Secretary-General of the Arab League Azzam Pasha stated that “The Arabs intend to conduct a war of extermination and momentous massacre which will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacres and the Crusades.”
“They bombed the King David”
It was not terrorism, as the King David ‘hotel’ was the British Administration base in the region. The attack was against the government, not civilians. Furthermore, a warning phonecall was made about 25 minutes before the explosion - which was ignored because the Chief Secretary said he doesn’t “take orders from Jews.”
“We’ll never know why the world capitulated to their terrorism, but we do know the consequences - a lifetime of murder and misery for the innocent Palestinians”
But we know why the Arab governments are complicit in that misery - they are using the Palestinians as a propaganda tool against Israel. That should disgust you.
A couple of paragraphs from Wikipedia on Menachem Begin: I would say that anyone who “mounts a campaign of terror against British officials” should be classified as a “terrorist.”
Begin issued a call to arms and from 1944–48 the Irgun launched an all-out armed rebellion, perpetrating hundreds of attacks against British installations and posts. Begin financed these operations by extorting money from Zionist businessmen, and running bogus robbery scams in the local diamond industry, which enabled the victims to get back their losses from insurance companies. [4]
For several months in 1945–46, the Irgun’s activities were coordinated within the framework of the Hebrew Resistance Movement under the direction of the Haganah, however this fragile partnership collapsed following the Irgun’s bombing of the British administrative headquarters at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, killing 91 people, including British officers and troops as well as Arab and Jewish civilians. The Irgun under Begin’s leadership continued to carry out operations such as the break in to Acre Prison, and the hanging of two British sergeants, Clifford Martin and Marvyn Paice, causing the British to suspend any further executions of Irgun prisoners. Growing numbers of British forces were deployed to quell the Jewish uprising, yet Begin managed to elude captivity, at times disguised as a rabbi. The British Security Service MI5 placed a ‘dead-or-alive’ bounty of £10,000 on his head after Irgun threatened ‘a campaign of terror against British officials’, saying they would kill Sir John Shaw, Britain’s Chief Secretary in Palestine. An MI5 agent codenamed Snuffbox also warned that Irgun had sleeper cells in London trying to kill members of British Prime Minister Clement Attlee’s Cabinet.[5]
Jimmy Carter is the last U.S. President who actually had the intelligence and moral rectitude befitting the post of Commander in Chief of the United States. All “presidents” after him are lying, stinking sacks of sh*t: Reagan was the first neo-con extremist; Bush 1 largely a continuation of Reagan and a war criminal and Arab brown-noser for oil; Clinton a republicrat and deregulation zealot (NAFTA eliminated THOUSANDS of US jobs–all thanks to Clinton); and of course Bush 2 is easily the most tragic event to happen in modern US history (causing such staggering damage to the USA and world at large it is simply mind-numbing to ponder).
Carter is a man of courage and vision and decency. What strikes me most about Jimmy Carter is his selfless service to humanity, his integrity, and how much he has done in his life to further the cause of Peace and Justice. I think he is a great human being. It truly shows the small-mindedness of Israel’s government in the shabby and mean-spirited way they are treating this great Elder Statesman, Jimmy Carter. If there is one American who understands the complexities and nuances of the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict it is Jimmy Carter. God Bless you Jimmy Carter, we are so lucky to still have you with us.
I got a proposal for Rebel Conservative: why not move “Israel” to Europe. It was the Europeans (namely Germans and Austrians) who persecuted the Jews. Let them give one or two of their states or provinces for an “Israeli” homeland”. The Palestinians are paying for crime they never committed. But that’s beside the point. God bless Jimmy Carter always!
With any luck this war will go on forever.
If it stopped, what else would you all do with your time?
I am sorry to say now, Jimmy Carter was the last President we have had with any large amount of morals! At least he has some idea of what’s right and wrong. It’s been downhill all the way since the Reagan Republican’s (Neo con’s) took over. Whether we like it or not Hamas was duly elected by the people of the region. I have heard stories that the election was rigged but then, so was ours twice. What Israel and the US are doing to the people of the region amounts to war crimes. To refuse to even talk to them or recognize the fact they are an elected government is criminal. All Carter is trying to do is bring some common sense back to our foreign policies. The US currently favors a criminal state that uses inhuman methods to get what they want.
“Habitat for Humanity” does not stop at building homes.
Jimmy Carter and his wife have been trying for decades to teach us what this concept and organization is all about.
Thank you, Mr. & Mrs. Carter for all the work you have done and continue to do.
I read that a Republican congressman (from Kentucky?) wants to revoke Carter’s passport. I just made a donation to the Carter Center as a way to say thank you to President Carter. http://cartercenter.org
Maybe Carter is trying to make up for all the Salvadorians, Afghanis and Timorese he helped murder.
I have just learned about a new lobby group (from friends in Europe) made up of prominent U.S. Jews who believe the “Israel Lobby” has been dominated too long by neoconservative hawks. They are called J Street ( http://jstreet.org/ ), and they plan to support U.S. candidates who favor a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a stronger U.S. role in achieving it. The new project has been endorsed by some prominent Israelis including several former top military and intelligence officers. I have never posted here, but I felt this news is too good not to share with your intelligent readers. (At times I enjoy reading the comments as much as the articles.)
Namaste
… … … … … Mahatma Gandhi … & … ML King … … Inspiration … … … … …
« We must be the change we wish to see in the world »
« There is a sufficiency in the world for man’s need but not for man’s greed »
« We adopt the means of nonviolence because our end is a community at peace with itself » — MLK
Terrorism. What a farce. What a lie. On 9/11 there was an act of war. It wasn’t terrorism. There is no terrorism, only enemies and allies.
Don’t call a man a terrorist simply because he cannot afford tanks and aircraft carriers. The use of the word ‘terrorist’ is a doorway to propaganda and denies the right of protagonists to have grievances.
“Why did he do that?” Not because he is fighting for his family, his beliefs or his way of life but because he is a terrorist. Without acknowledging grievances they cannot be aired and there can be no peace talks. The War on Terror can never end and that is the way some people want it.
Carter seems to be the only high ranking American willing to speak out against the horrendous atrocities being perpetrated on the Palestinians.
What an example of Profiles in Courage, an American who actually cares about the mistreatment of fellow human beings, and recognizes the duly elected government of Hamas.
What a travesty and a farce to first insist that the Palestinians hold fair elections and then reject the results of the elections we demanded. It does not get more pathetic or more undemocratic than the USA ignoring the results of a fair election. Oh wait we did the same thing in Florida.
Most of the jews who left europe also had first hand education on the how to’s of nazism and they put it to use for their own purpose as they ousted the people who helped them and took their land made it into Israel and put a baracade around the land with an arson that could destroy the middle east at a given moment and now the war machine who owns all the american networks are blasting 1 truth teller down grading his constitutional right to free speech has degraded the best president america had that I can remember but they all are kissing up to the war machine.
Mr. Carter, I am sending a check towards any expenses needed for your further trips.
Thanks Denny,
Carter is setting the stage for peace in the Middle East.
Israel will not negotiate if ever until they see who the next president is….
Carter and all the candidates know this.
Faith said or says “Thank you, President Carter, for having the courage to speak the truth!”
I knew Pres. Carter is a great man, if we had listen to him, we would have had oil Independence long ago and not be beholden to all nations in the Middle East. We lost our Independence in less than eight years and officials in Washington seems don´t care.