- Title: SYRIA: Ex-U.S. President Carter visits Syria
- Date: 14th December 2008
- Summary: VARIOUS OF JOURNALISTS AT NEWS CONFERENCE CARTER ARRIVING FOR THE NEWS CONFERENCE SIGN OF SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC SIGN ON WALL CARTER AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER, SAYING: "We are deeply interested in seeing complete peace come to this region and to see peace come between Israel and the Palestinians and the Palestinian rights h
- Embargoed: 29th December 2008 12:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVAERMPKWICM5HD5G03G522W3DU4
- Story Text: Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter visits Syria to discuss the Middle East peace process.
Peace between Israel and the Palestinians was top of the agenda on Saturday (December 13), when former U.S. President Jimmy Carter visited Syria to meet with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
President from 1977 to 1981 and a tough critic of Israeli policies in the Palestinian territories, Carter said Palestinian factions must combine their political forces to negotiate more effectively with Israel.
"We are deeply interested in seeing complete peace come to this region and to see peace come between Israel and the Palestinians and the Palestinian rights honoured," he said.
"And I don't see any possibility for this to be done unless Hamas and Fatah will come together and form a unity government or combine their resources in political terms to negotiate from a position of strength with the Israelis", he told journalists in the capital, Damascus, after a meeting with the Syrian leader.
Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, Carter also helped negotiate a 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.
"Comprehensive peace has to be achieved so that everyone can live in peace and that would include Israel, all the Palestinians including Hamas supporters, Lebanon, Syria," he said.
Carter's visit to Syria is his second this year and follows a visit to Lebanon.
Talking at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, on Friday (December 12), Carter said he hoped President-elect Barack Obama would quickly engage in Middle East peace talks when he takes office early next year.
Carter caused controversy earlier this year by meeting leaders of the Palestinian faction, Hamas, which is listed as a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union.
But Hezbollah, a Syrian-backed group, had refused to meet him, the former U.S. leader said this week.
Relations between Syria and the United States remain strained despite a recent thaw in relations with Western nations including France and Britain. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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