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RAMALLAH, West Bank-Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said he'll meet with a Hamas leader at a West Bank reception Tuesday, a sign he has not been cowed by criticism of his plans to meet with the violently anti-Israel group.Nasser al-Shaer has been invited to a reception in the West Bank town of Ramallah along with other prominent Palestinians, officials close to Hamas said Tuesday.Shaer is a leading Hamas member from the West Bank who once served as the Palestinian government's deputy prime minister and education minister. He was expelled from the internationally recognized government after Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip last summer. Asked by The Associated Press if he would meet Shaer on Tuesday, Carter replied, "Yes." He offered no further details.Both the United States and Israeli governments have already expressed displeasure at Carter's overtures to Hamas and labeled a terrorist organization by both countries. Carter is to meet Khaled Mashal, the group's exiled leader, in Damascus, Syria, on Friday.Critics say engaging Hamas in talks would grant the group legitimacy and undermine moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as he tries to make peace with the Jewish state.During his visit to Israel earlier in the week, Carter said isolating Hamas is counterproductive and volunteered to serve as a conduit between the group and the U.S. and Israeli governments.Carter, who brokered Israel's historic peace accord with Egypt in 1979, said he was not on an official mission and had "no authority at all.""I'm not a negotiator. I'm just trying to understand different opinions and provide communication between people," he said.When meeting Mashaal, Carter said: "I'm going to try everything I can to get him to agree to a peaceful resolution," both with Israel and with Hamas' internal Palestinian rivals.Carter said he requested permission to enter Hamas-ruled Gaza but was turned down. He did not provide details. Israel and Egypt control Gaza's border crossings and such a visit would also require the approval of Carter's U.S. Secret Service detail. There have been no official visits to Gaza by Americans since Hamas won Palestinian parliamentary elections in early 2006.Israel's top leaders, in a stinging rebuff, have shunned Carter. Only Shimon Peres, the country's ceremonial president, met with the former U.S. leader, and took that occasion to tell him that his planned meeting with Mashaal was a grave mistake.In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey told reporters Monday that the U.S. has "made clear our views that we did not think now is the moment for him (Carter) or anyone to be talking with Hamas."Carter's popularity hit bottom in Israel since he published a book two years ago drawing comparisons between Israeli policies in the West Bank and Gaza and apartheid in South Africa.In another break with U.S. policy, Carter placed a wreath Tuesday on the grave of Yasser Arafat. The Bush administration has snubbed Arafat, blaming him for the breakdown of peace talks seven years ago and the violence that followed.President Bush did not visit Arafat's mausoleum in Ramallah when he visited earlier this year.http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,351313,00.html
PS:This man-probably the worst president America ever had-is a FOOL...
The Dem.party should remove his credentials as a superdelegate upon coming back to the US.IF Obama or Clinton had any sense at all they would not only distance from him but also denounce him and advocate for his powers to be taken from him.
This guy is a DISGRACE....
As in the days of Noah.....
