GAZA: Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter visits Gaza on last leg of his Middle East tour

Record ID: 411400

  • Title: GAZA: Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter visits Gaza on last leg of his Middle East tour
  • Date: 17th June 2009
  • Summary: EREZ CROSSING, BETWEEN ISRAEL AND GAZA (JUNE 16, 2009) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF U.N. CONVOY CARRYING FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER FROM EREZ BORDER CROSSING TOWARDS GAZA CONVOY CROSSING PALESTINIAN GATE TOWARDS GAZA CITY GAZA CITY, GAZA (JUNE 16, 2009) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CONVOY DRIVING THROUGH DAMAGED STREETS VARIOUS OF SECURITY ACCOMPANYING CONVOY THROUGH STREETS
  • Embargoed: 2nd July 2009 13:00
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  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz
  • Reuters ID: LVA4SAB2POTHSJAWQQ74C5D2P40R
  • Story Text: Former U.S. President Carter calls for internal Palestinian reconciliation, peace with Israel during visit to Gaza on last leg of his Middle East tour to advance peace.
    Former U.S. President Carter voiced sorrow over Gaza destruction and called for internal Palestinian reconciliation during a visit to the Hamas-run territory on Tuesday (June 16) on the last leg of his Middle East tour to advance peace.
    Carter met with leaders of the civil society in Gaza City and was scheduled to hold a news conference at the graduation ceremony for students of the UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) Human Rights curriculum.
    "It's very distressing to me, I have to hold back tears when I see the deliberate destruction that has been racked against your people. I come here to the American school which was educating your children, supported by my own country and I see that this has been deliberately destroyed by bombs from F-16 made in my country and delivered to the Israelis," Carter told reporters outside the American International School in Gaza that was severely damaged during Israel's 22-day offensive against Hamas in Gaza.
    The former president was also scheduled to meet Hamas leader in Gaza Ismael Haniyeh later on Tuesday.
    "I will be meeting with the Hamas leaders as I did in Damascus a few nights ago. Hamas leaders want peace and they want to have reconciliation not only with their Fatah brothers but also eventually with Israelis to live side by side, with two nations, both sovereign nations, recognised by each other and living in peace. That's what I hope to see in the future," said Carter.
    Carter's visit to the isolated Gaza Strip came a day after Middle East envoy Tony Blair visited the coastal Strip where he called for more action on easing the humanitarian conditions in Gaza.
    During his Middle East tour, President Carter held talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders and met local leaders of Jewish settlements in the West Bank. In Syria, he met President Bashar Assad and the exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashal.
    On Monday (June 15), in response to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's keynote address which drew waves of reactions worldwide, Carter said Netanyahu has set many obstacles to peace with Palestinians.
    Palestinians voiced dismay over terms the Israeli leader set for a peace deal but the Israeli leader won guarded approval in Washington and Brussels for at least accepting Palestinian statehood.
    With Gaza in the hands of Abbas's Islamist rivals Hamas, who reject interim peace deals and continue to attack Israel, there seems little immediate prospect of ending more than 60 years of conflict.
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