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Carter in Syria: Israel must fully lift Gaza blockade
[Haaretz]  Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter,... the worst president ever... during a visit to Damascus on Tuesday, called for Israel to lift completely its blockade on the Gazoo Strip. Carter made the remarks in the forum of a delegation known as The Elders, who met with Syria's hereditary President Bashar PencilneckAssad and Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, leaders in Syria. Despite the U.S. and the European Union's labeling of Hamas as a terrorist organization, The Elders met with exiled Hamas politburo leader Khaled Meshaal, as Carter has done during previous regional visits. Following their talks with Assad and Meshal, The Elders said people in the region have "very low expectations" that the current U.S.-led talks between Israel and the Paleostinian Authority, which excluded Hamas, would succeed. Carter, who has visited the Gazoo Strip several times in recent years, did not accompany the rest of the delegation on their trip there Saturday. Despite his absence from Gazoo, Carter renewed calls for Israel to lift its blockade of the Hamas-governed Gazoo Strip. Israel imposed the blockade in 2007 after Hamas wrestled control over the territory in a violent coup. "The blockade is one of the most serious human rights ... which are not the same thing as individual rights, mind you... violations on Earth and it must be lifted fully," said the mealy-mouthed Carter from Syria. Besides Carter, the Elders delegation includes former Irish president Mary Robinson and former UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi. Now there's a stacked deck... While in Gazoo, the group described Israel's blockade as an "illegal collective punishment" and "an impediment to peace."
Posted by: Fred 2010-10-20 |
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