Nobel Peace Prize winner and former US President Jimmy Carter met with exiled Hamas leader Kahled Meshaal in Syria. Carter has suffered rebuke from his own government and fellow Democrats for meeting with the head of the party that forms the elected government of Palestine, but which is officially classed as a terrorist organization by the US government and Israel. A member of the US House of Representatives naively demanded on television that Carter's passport be revoked for his attempt to renew political dialogue between Palestinians and Israelis. Carter has roiled the potent Israel lobby in the US with his recent book on the sixty year conflict in the Levant. Several prominent Israelis have used the term "Jew hater" in connection with the former president[1]. Meshaal became the political chief of Hamas after the founder of the party was assassinated by Israel in March 2004. He survived his own attempted assassination at the hands of Israeli agents in 1997. Meshaal has stated publicly that Hamas is willing to accept a mutal ceasfire and recognition of Israel if it gives up territory captured in the Six Day War of 1967, ends Iraeli settlement of the West Bank, and allows Palestine to have it's capitol in East Jerusalem. Senior officials of Israel including Prime Minister Olmert have refused to meet with Carter after meeting with Meshaal saying it would be tantamount to negotiating with terrorists. But inquiring minds want to know Jimmy, do you love the flag?
[1] former Attorney General Michael Ben Yair, deputy mayor of Jerusalem Meron Benvenisti, former Education Minister Shulamit Aloni. See New York Review of Books, March 29,2007.