Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Brushoff for Carter Over Plans for Hamas Meeting

Negando protezione a Carter la leadership israeliana dimostra 
l'intelligenza e la capacità politica di un adolescente imbronciato.
Qualcuno si è chiesto cosa potrebbe pensare una parte dell'opinione 
pubblica statunitense del fatto che ad un suo ex presidente Israele nega 
la protezione?
Evidentemente no.
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FORMER PRESIDENT IN ISRAEL
Brushoff for Carter Over Plans for Hamas Meeting
By Griff Witte
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, April 15, 2008; Page A10
JERUSALEM, April 14 -- With plans to meet a key Hamas leader later this 
week, former U.S. president Jimmy Carter is getting the cold shoulder 
during his visit to Israel.
Since his arrival Sunday, top officials have avoided him and the 
nation's elite security service has declined to help protect him, 
according to U.S. sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Israeli officials said the brushoff reflected Israeli disenchantment 
with Carter for choosing to meet with the exiled leader of Hamas, Khaled 
Meshal, as well as lingering resentment over Carter's 2006 book titled 
"Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," which sharply criticized Israeli 
policies toward the Palestinians.
"A meeting like this gives some semblance of legitimacy to those who do 
not deserve it," one Israeli official said, speaking on the condition of 
anonymity. "The book doesn't help him, either."
Both the United States and Israel consider Hamas a terrorist 
organization and refuse to meet with the group's leaders. But Egypt has 
been trying to mediate a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in recent 
weeks, a process U.S. officials have encouraged behind the scenes.
In a speech near Israel's major airport Monday, Carter said he wants to 
become "a communicator" between the United States and Hamas. Carter has 
also said he will press for the release of an Israeli soldier held by 
the group.
"I hope then the Israeli government will deign to meet with me. They 
have so far refused," he said.
Carter, 83, has been snubbed by Israel's top officials, including Prime 
Minister Ehud Olmert. President Shimon Peres met with him Sunday 
evening, but Peres holds a largely ceremonial post. Afterward, a 
spokeswoman for Peres said he had told Carter that meeting with Hamas 
would be a mistake.
Carter has also been criticized by U.S. officials. State Department 
spokesman Tom Casey said the Bush administration has "made clear our 
views that we did not think now is the moment for him or anyone to be 
talking with Hamas."
Hamas, an armed Islamist movement that has vowed to destroy Israel, won 
2006 Palestinian elections. But a unity government with the rival Fatah 
party dissolved last year, and Hamas took sole control of the Gaza 
Strip. Since then, Hamas and its allies have been lobbing rockets almost 
daily from Gaza into southern Israel.
Carter, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his work in conflict 
resolution, brokered a historic 1979 peace deal between Israel and Egypt.
The former president has U.S. Secret Service protection in Israel, and 
the U.S. sources said Shin Bet, Israel's main domestic security agency, 
had not assisted with his protection. An Israeli official said there had 
been no request for help.
Carter's delegation released a statement saying it had "inquired with 
both the lead agent of the Secret Service detail and the State 
Department Regional Security Officer and were told unequivocally that an 
official request for assistance had been made."
Carter on Monday visited Sderot, the southern Israeli town that has 
borne the brunt of rocket attacks from Gaza. "I think it's a despicable 
crime for any deliberate effort to be made to kill innocent civilians, 
and my hope is there will be a cease-fire soon," he said.
He later visited a hospital where many of those injured by the rockets 
have been treated and met with Gazan children who have been allowed out 
of the strip for medical care.
Sderot resident Batya Kattar said she came to see Carter to ask him why 
he is "always defending the Palestinians." But after talking with him, 
she said she was hopeful about his upcoming meeting with Hamas.
"Maybe this dialogue can lead to quiet, and perhaps in the future even 
lead to peace," she said.
Special correspondent Samuel Sockol contributed to this report.
http://tinyurl.com/4fdxxw


#_Obama puo`farsi gia`una chiara idea di quel che significhera`per lui un 
viaggio in Israele e Palestina se vuol mantenere la sua promessa di parlare 
con tutte le parti in causa. :-\
Giano