Carter presses Hamas to back Gaza peace talks
Israel and the United States are united in their condemnation of President Carter's decision to meet with the leadership of Hamas, despite the fact that a majority of Israelis - the actual people who have to live with Hamas rockets falling overhead - want their government to negotiate with Hamas, especially if it will lead to the release of young Gilad Shalit.
It is not unusual for Israel and the US to take these unpopular stances regarding who they will and will not negotiate with.
And the Israeli public are actually being entirely rational when they recognise that it is right and proper for their government to negotiate with the democratically elected representatives of the Palestinian people.
As far as Bush and Olmert were concerned the Palestinians made the wrong democratic choice and they have been punishing them ever since they made that fateful decision, making a mockery of Bush's supposed love for democracy.
Carter demanded that Hamas offer another ceasefire - they maintained one before which the Israelis simply ignored - and that they offer greater flexibility in the public statements which they make.
So Carter has managed to move Hamas's position quite considerably, to the point where they will accept a peace agreement if that is the will of the Palestinian people.Carter demanded that Hamas stops firing rockets on Israel while he pursues efforts to lift the siege of the Gaza Strip, which is ruled by Hamas, politicians familiar with the meetings said. 'Carter also asked Meshaal to adopt more flexible public statements and talked to him as a leader of a national liberation movement, not as the terrorist Israel and America try to depict him as being,' one of the sources told Reuters.
'Meshaal is a first among equals in Hamas. He has to secure agreement from the rest of the Hamas leadership,' the source added.
Carter's willingness to meet officials from Hamas has drawn criticism from Israel and the US, which both regard it as a terrorist group. Carter said Hamas officials had told him in Cairo they would accept a peace agreement with Israel negotiated by Abbas if Palestinians approved it in a referendum.
However, one can fully expect Bush and Olmert - the supposed lovers of democracy - to reject such a proposal, despite Hamas being the democratically elected leaders of the Palestinian people and despite the fact that the majority of Israelis want these talks to take place.
One could be forgiven for wondering whether the US and Israel actually want peace at all.
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