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Carter: Hamas will accept Israel | Carter: Hamas will accept Israel |
(about 4 hours later) | |
Former US President Jimmy Carter has said that Hamas is prepared to accept the right of Israel to "live as a neighbour next door in peace". | Former US President Jimmy Carter has said that Hamas is prepared to accept the right of Israel to "live as a neighbour next door in peace". |
After meeting Hamas leaders last week in Syria, he said it was a problem that the US and Israel would not meet them. | |
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has challenged Hamas to prove its goodwill by renouncing violence. | |
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has refused to see Mr Carter, who was ending his regional visit in Jerusalem. | |
Meanwhile, the Israeli army has launched a formal investigation into the death of a Reuters cameraman killed in the Gaza Strip last week. | |
Two Palestinians died in Israeli air strikes in the territory on Monday: one person in the southern city of Rafah and a Hamas militant at Beit Hanoun, a border town from where rockets are often fired at Israel. | |
'Regressed' | 'Regressed' |
In a speech in Jerusalem, Mr Carter said Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking had "regressed" since the US hosted Middle East talks in November at Annapolis. | |
Hamas indicated... that if Israel is willing to have a mutual ceasefire... they will accept it Jimmy Carter | |
He defended his talks in Damascus with exiled Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal. | |
"The problem is that Israel and the United States refuse to meet with someone who must be involved," he told Israel's Council on Foreign Relations. | |
Hamas had reiterated its position that it could accept an Israeli state within its pre-1967 borders and live in peace with Israel, he said. | |
"Hamas indicated... that if Israel is willing to have a mutual ceasefire and a renunciation of violence in Gaza and in the West Bank, they will accept it, and as a first step they would even accept just limiting that to Gaza," he said, speaking to the BBC's Newsnight programme. | |
Israel, the US and the European Union regard Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, as a terrorist organisation. | Israel, the US and the European Union regard Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, as a terrorist organisation. |
Hamas is officially dedicated to the destruction of Israel and the creation of an Islamic state in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. | Hamas is officially dedicated to the destruction of Israel and the creation of an Islamic state in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. |
Call for proof | |
Mr Carter also said the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, captured by Hamas and other militant groups during a raid into Israel two years ago, was being held up by the lack of direct communication between Israel and Hamas. | |
Mr Carter said the difficulty was in agreeing the identity of the Palestinian prisoners to be released in return. | Mr Carter said the difficulty was in agreeing the identity of the Palestinian prisoners to be released in return. |
He said Egyptian officials had told him that Israel had agreed to release 1,000 prisoners but accepted only 71 names on a list of hundreds of prisoners submitted by Hamas. | |
Speaking in Manama on a tour of the Middle East, Ms Rice said Hamas should show their willingness to make peace by releasing Corp Shalit and halting rocket attacks on Israel. | |
She also called on the group to recognise the legitimacy of the Palestinian Authority, whom they ousted from Gaza last summer. | |
Shell investigation | |
Israel has said it will investigate the death of Palestinian Reuters cameraman Fadel Shana, who died with several other civilians in Gaza last Wednesday. | |
New York-based Human Rights Watch says it has evidence an Israeli tank team fired either recklessly or deliberately at Mr Shana. | New York-based Human Rights Watch says it has evidence an Israeli tank team fired either recklessly or deliberately at Mr Shana. |
The Israeli army denies deliberately targeting civilians. | |
Israeli Human rights group B'tselem has reported that Mr Shana was killed by a flechette shell, which rains down thousands of small metal darts. | |
The group called for use of the shell to cease immediately and for a criminal investigation of the event. | |