Carter to meet with Hamas to promote peace

Carter Defends Plan to Meet Hamas to Promote Middle East Peace

By Matthew Benjamin

April 13 (Bloomberg) -- Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter defended his decision to meet with leaders of Hamas, saying the militant Palestinian group will need to be included in any peace agreement with Israel.

``I think someone should be meeting with Hamas to see what we can do to encourage them to be cooperative and to find out what their attitude is,'' Carter said on the ABC News program ``This Week.''

Carter's decision to meet with Hamas, which is labeled a terrorist organization by the U.S. government, was discouraged by the U.S. State Department last week.

The 83-year-old former president said he will also meet with Hamas's rival Fatah as well as with the Israelis, Syrians, Egyptians, Jordanians and Saudis.

``If Israel is ever going to find peace with justice concerning the relationship with their next-door neighbors,'' said Carter, ``Hamas will have to be included in the process.''

``I think that it's very important that at least someone meet with the Hamas leaders to express their views,'' to encourage them to halt attacks on Israelis and cooperate with Fatah ``and maybe to get them to agree to a cease-fire,'' Carter said.

Carter said his broad mission in the Middle East is ``to promote peace in the region.'' He said ``you can't always get prerequisites adopted by other people before you even talk to them.''

Carter added that he'll provide his findings to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Beijing Olympics

The former president also said the U.S. shouldn't boycott the Beijing Olympics this year over China's crackdown on unrest in Tibet. Carter led the U.S. boycott of the 1980 summer Olympics in Moscow after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan earlier that year.

``That was a totally different experience in 1980, when the Soviet Union had brutally invaded and killed thousands and thousands of people,'' Carter said. ``They were threatening to go further south and take over other countries.''

Carter spoke with ABC from Nepal, where he is monitoring elections.

To contact the reporter on this story: Matthew Benjamin in Washington at mbenjamin2@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: April 13, 2008 11:21 EDT