Hamas Breaks Cease Fire With Roadside Bomb Attack – Israel Resumes Bombing Tunnels

Hopefully Israel will finish the job this time. It is time to take Hamas out, until Hamas is gone there is no chance for peace. 

An Israel Defense Forces spokesman said the air strike came in response to a remote-control bomb attack at the Gaza Strip security fence Tuesday, which killed an Israel Defense Forces tracker and wounded three other soldiers, one seriously.

The border blast was the Palestinians’ first deadly attack since the cease-fire ended Operation Cast Lead, and came the day before the arrival of George Mitchell, the U.S. envoy to the Middle East. 

Earlier on Tuesday, IAF aircraft fired a missile at a militant on a motorbike in the Khan Yunis area of Gaza. The Shin Bet security service, which helped coordinate the missile strike, said the militant, Hussein Abu-Shamaya, was involved in the bomb attack. The bomb was planted by a Hamas breakaway group identified with the Al-Qaida-affiliated Global Jihad, the Shin Bet said. 

In addition, a Palestinian man, apparently a farmer, was killed in exchanges of fire between IDF troops and Palestinians in Gaza after the bomb was detonated, according to Palestinian reports. The incident took place while IDF tanks and soldiers, assisted by helicopters, were patrolling Gaza after the attack. 

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned of a “further response” to the attack. 

“What the IDF did today was not a response but a preliminary action,” he said at a meeting of ministry directors general. “A further response to this serious incident will be forthcoming.” 

The security cabinet is to meet Wednesday to discuss security projects, but the situation in Gaza might also be discussed. 

Olmert, noting that he had termed the cease-fire “fragile,” also said: “We don’t even call it a cease-fire but a holding of fire in the face of Hamas infractions, so that we can retain the IDF’s freedom of action.” 

Defense Minister Ehud Barak decided to strike Hamas targets in response to the death of the tracker. 

“We do not intend to gloss over incidents like these,” Barak said. “We will not let Hamas and its outgrowths continue their hostile acts of terror. Anyone who hits us will have to absorb a serious blow in the future, too.” 

Sources in the Prime Minister’s Bureau said Tuesday Israel was not negotiating with Hamas over a cease-fire or second lull. “The Egyptians are speaking to Hamas to attain things that are important for them, but we are not obligated to anything. We have not signed understandings or an agreement with Hamas,” a source in Olmert’s bureau said. 

Israel and Egypt are apparently formulating an understanding on the passage of merchandise from Israel to the Gaza Strip, and at the same time some increased freedom of movement in the opening of the Rafah crossing from the Strip to Egypt. 

The Kerem Shalom and Karni crossings on the Gaza border were closed after the attack. Approximately 185 trucks carrying aid and equipment were to have crossed into Gaza yesterday. 

The bomb near the Gaza border detonated around 8 A.M., as an IDF patrol was passing near the Kissufim crossing, north of Kibbutz Kissufim. The tracker was killed and an officer was seriously hurt. One of his legs was amputated and the other one is severely damaged. Two other soldiers were classified as lightly hurt and will be released in a few days. Soroka Medical Center said they had extensive shrapnel wounds. 

The name of the tracker, a Bedouin, was not released, at the request of his family. 

A preliminary investigation revealed that the soldiers were patrolling an area that had not been patrolled for several weeks due to the fighting in the Strip. The regional brigade commander was apparently not apprised of the patrol, which was approved by the battalion commander. IDF sources said the Palestinians who planted the bomb did so Monday night, under cover of heavy fog. 

The closure of the Gaza crossings is only the first stage of Israel’s response to the attack, Amos Gilad, who heads the Defense Ministry’s political bureau, said yesterday. “The equation in the Strip has changed,” he said during a lecture at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv. 

Yuval Azoulay, Avi Issacharoff and Barak Ravid contributed to this report. 

via Gaza rocket hits Negev; IAF strikes Hamas tunnels after soldier killed – Haaretz – Israel News .

Obama Lays Ground Work For Direct Negotiations With Iran

Direct diplomacy without preconditions I am sure… Just wait and see. Pretty soon we will be bending over for these asshats while they builds some nukes… Remember what happened with N. Korea under the Clinton administration… 

Change You Can Believe In!

President Obama did a quick pivot Monday, shifting his focus to foreign policy by contacting a handful of major world leaders — including Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and French President Nikolas Sarkozy — as his new U.N. ambassador restated the desire for vigorous and “direct diplomacy” with Iran.

President Obama did a quick pivot Monday, shifting his focus to foreign policy by contacting a handful of major world leaders — including Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and French President Nikolas Sarkozy — as his new U.N. ambassador restated the desire for vigorous and “direct diplomacy” with Iran.

Obama spoke with the foreign leaders ahead of a meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and his Middle East envoy George Mitchell, who was leaving immediately afterward for a trip to the region. Mitchell will go to Cairo, Egypt; Jersusalem, Israel; Ramallah in the West Bank; Amman, Jordan; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He will also visit Paris and London.

Back in the U.S., U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, who was confirmed last week for the post, said Monday that Iran’s refusal to meet international obligations will increase pressure on Tehran to drop its nuclear ambitions and cooperate with the United States and global community.

Besides pursuing nuclear weapons, Iran has called for the destruction of Israel and support for Hamas, a terror group designated by the U.S., Israel and the European Union. 

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Rice’s remarks are not a departure from statements made previously by Obama the candidate. She merely restated the administration position that no forms of communication should be off the table with the Islamic regime. 

“Whether you were on the campaign trail or not, clearly this was something that generated a lot of coverage over the past two years. And I think Ambassador Rice was simply restating the position that the president had,” he said.

Gibbs did not offer any specific initiatives on dealing with Iran, but said Rice’s remarks should come as no surprise.

“This administration is going to use all elements of our national power to address concerns” about Iran’s nuclear program. 

As for the Mitchell trip, Gibbs said Mitchell was ahead overseas “to begin the process that the president promised to be actively engaged in, the peace process there in the Middle East.”

State Department Spokesman Robert A. Wood said the purpose of the trip is to consult with regional leaders on a range of issues, including trying to contain smuggling into Gaza to prevent the rearming of Hamas, the Islamist movement that rules Gaza. He said Mitchell will not meet with any Hamas leaders.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

via Obama, Iran Talks Next? – First 100 Days of Presidency – Politics FOXNews.com .

Chavez Possibly Supporting Hamas And Hezbollah

Not really that much of a surprise… I wonder how much support and the types he is providing… 

Now let’s not forget Chavez is looking to start up a nuke program, allegedly for power, but I would suspect with a little Iranian help this could very easily be a weapons program…

Wonder if Obama will watch his own backyard or if they will be given the Socialists pass…

A new book published in the United States alleges that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is an active and open supporter of Hamas and Hezbollah, providing the Lebanese Shi’ite militia with training for its fighters.

In “The Threat Closer to Home: Hugo Chavez and the War Against America,” authors Douglas Schoen and Michael Rowan write that through his support of terror organizations and by providing safe refuge for terrorists, Chavez constitutes a real, concrete threat to the United States.

Venezeula earlier this month cut ties with Israel to protest its military offensive in the Gaza Strip. The move came shortly days after Chavez called the attacks on the Hamas-ruled coastal territory a “holocaust.”

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Last August the Los Angeles Times reported that Western governments fear that Hezbollah is establishing a growing number of operational cells in the South American country.

Iran is long believed to have undertaken covert activity in South America in concert with Hezbollah. The LA Times reported that the U.S. State Department believes Iranian operatives were behind two terrorist attacks in Buenos Aires – the 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires and the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center building. Both attacks killed dozens of civilians and wounded scores more

via Chavez providing aid to Hamas and Hezbollah, says new book – Haaretz – Israel News .

Holy Land Foundation Members Guilty Of Providing Over $12 Million To Hamas

Finally some good news on the fight against terror. The Holy Land Foundation and five of its workers have been found guilty of funneling at least $12 million to Hamas. Now our government needs to look into CAIR’s connections to the Holy Land Foundation and start working a case there.

Just in from DMN. Counting down until CAIR Islamophobia cries begin. In 3, 2, 1…

A jury on Monday determined that the Holy Land Foundation and five men who worked with the Muslim charity were guilty of three dozen counts related to the illegal funneling of at least $12 million to the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.

The unanimous verdicts are a complete victory for the government, which streamlined its case and worked hard to carefully educate jurors on the complex, massive evidence presented in the trial.

The prosecution victory is also a major one for the lame duck administration of President George Bush, whose efforts at fighting terrorism financing in court have been troubled, even though the flow of funds seems to be effectively shut down.

It was the second trial where the government attempted to convict the men and the now defunct Richardson-based Holy Land Foundation itself. It took the jury eight days of deliberations to reach its decisions — less than half the time it took jurors to deadlock end up with an almost complete mistrial last year on the first go-around.

“My dad is not a criminal!” sobbed one courtroom observer after the verdicts were read. “He’s a human!”

Before he read the verdict, the judge had ordered all observers to remain civil and respect the proceedings.

By 3 p.m. Monday, jurors had been sent back to the jury room to determine if Holy Land assets should be forfeited to the government because of several convictions on money laundering charges related to the case.

Obama’s Muslim Outreach Coordinate Meets With Muslim Radicals

Remember Mazen Asbahi, Baracks original Muslim Outreach Coordinator, he stepped down after it was discovered that he had ties to Muslim radicals. Now Obama’s new coordinator, Minha Husaini, has meet with radical Muslims. These are people that advocate terrorism, censorship, support Hamas, Hezbollah…

Guess who was one of the people in the meeting… Mazen Asbahi…

More Change You Can Believe In.

Barack Obama’s newly appointed Muslim outreach adviser is coming under fire for meeting with Islamic groups with extremist views, just two months after her predecessor resigned over links to a radical cleric.

Minha Husaini met with members of several Islamic organizations in Virginia on September 15 — including some that terrorism experts say have ties to Hamas and the radical Muslim Brotherhood.

Among the attendees were senior members of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which was listed by federal prosecutors as an unindicted co-conspirator in a terror-related trial.

Several people connected to CAIR have been convicted of felonies — including on terrorism-related charges.

CAIR bills itself as the nation’s largest Muslim civil-rights advocacy group. As recently as last year, it advised the Transportation Security Administration on sensitivity training regarding Muslim air travelers. Nihad Awad, a CAIR co-founder and executive director, met with President Bush in the aftermath of 9/11. 

But critics say CAIR has a long history of masquerading as a moderate Islamic group. 

“These groups, even if they themselves are not active terrorist organizations, do subscribe to large amounts of the ideology that fuels the terrorism that we are being confronted with,” said Andrew McCarthy, former Assistant U.S. Attorney.

CAIR did not return repeated calls for comment.

Awad, who was at the September meeting with Husaini, recently attended a dinner with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Also present at the Sept. 15 meeting was Mahdi Bray, who has publicly announced his support for the terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah. Bray, the executive director of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation, raised his fist in the air during a rally in Washington in October 2000 to demonstrate his support for the terror groups.

Bray refused to comment on the recent gathering. “It was a closed meeting,” he told FOX News.

Johari Abdul Malik, imam of the Dar Al-Hijrah Mosque in Falls Church, Va., also participated in the meeting. During a conference in Chicago in 2001, he told attendees, “You can blow up bridges, but you cannot kill people who are innocent on their way to work.” In November 2004 he told followers, “You will see Islam move from being the second largest religion in America — to being the first religion in America.”

Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt said the campaign would not have sent a representative to the meeting had it known the list of participants.

“This meeting was not organized by the campaign — our outreach staff attends many meetings in the course of each day and they accepted an invitation from community leaders to attend,” LaBolt told FOX News in a written statement.

The Obama campaign’s previous Muslim outreach advisor, Mazen Asbahi — who stepped down in August following reports he was linked to a radical imam — also attended the meeting.

In a brief telephone conversation, Asbahi refused to discuss why he was at the meeting or whom he was representing.

According to LaBolt, “[Asbahi] is not an employee of the campaign and does not speak on behalf of the campaign.”

Omaba Loses Muslim Outreach Advisor Over Links To Extremist Iman Tied To Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood

Obama’s Muslim Outreach Advisor resigns after wone week on the job… Why you ask… Because he has links to Extremist Iman Jamal Said with links to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood

(CNN) — After barely a week on the job, Barack Obama’s Muslim outreach adviser resigned from the campaign after an old business connection with a fundamentalist Islamic imam surfaced last week.

Mazen Asbahi, a Chicago corporate lawyer, stepped down Monday after joining the campaign on July 26 as its national coordinator for Muslim affairs. The Wall Street Journal first reported the resignation on Tuesday night.

In a letter to the campaign, Asbahi wrote, “I am stepping down from the volunteer role I recently agreed to take on with the Obama campaign as Arab American and Muslim American outreach coordinator in order to avoid distracting from Barack Obama’s message of change.”

Asbahi served on the board of the Delaware-based Allied Assets Advisors Fund for a brief period in 2000 with Jamal Said, the imam of a fundamentalist mosque outside Chicago, the Wall Street Journal reports. The report links Said to fundamentalist groups Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood and says he was named by the Justice Department as an unindicted co-conspirator in the racketeering trial of suspected Hamas fundraisers that ended in a mistrial.

“I served on that board for only a few weeks before resigning as soon as I became aware of public allegations against another member of the board,” Asbahi wrote in his letter to the campaign.

 

The fund is a subsidiary of a company that promotes a conservative brand of Islam and Asbahi regularly speaks to groups with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, the newspaper reported.

“Mr. Asbahi has informed the campaign that he no longer wishes to serve in his volunteer position, and we are in the process of searching for a new national Arab American and Muslim American outreach coordinator,” Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt wrote in an e-mail.

Obama has had to balance dispelling rumors that he is a Muslim while trying not to offend Muslims.

“This is a classic example of a no-win situation, right?” Obama responded at a forum for minority journalists on July 27 when asked if he will visit a mosque as a candidate.

“I have repeatedly on various occasions said I am not a Muslim, but this whole strategy of suggesting that I am is indicative of anti-Muslim sentiment that we have to fight against.”

Carter Is A Typical Liberal Who Only Listens To What He Wants To Hear

Since Carters little tea party with Syrian leaders and Hamas Terrorists, he keeps reporting back lies.

Obviously he missed the interview with Mashaal, where Mashaal said he never agreed to accept Israels existance, but rather he would agree to a temporary 10 year truce if Israel went back to pre 1967 boarders, after the 10 years are up, and Hamas and other terrorist organizations are armed, then the truce will be over.  Wake up Jimmy, is anyone home?

Now Carter is saying he was never warned not to go and meet with these Terrorists.

No one in the State Department or any other department of the U.S. government ever asked him (Carter) to refrain from his recent visit to the Middle East or even suggested that he not meet with Syrian President (Bashar) Assad or leaders of Hamas,” said the Carter Center, which often speaks on the former president’s behalf

“They had a very pleasant discussion for about 15 minutes, during which he never made any of the negative or cautionary comments described above. He never talked to anyone else,” the Carter Center statement said.

Now I recall many members of Congress making public statements asking him not to go. I believe Bush even made public statements to that effect, so bad enough he does not recognize these as requests not to meet with Hamas, but he contradicts himself by saying:

Carter has said that he met with Assistant Secretary of State David Welch, and that Welch told him it was not advisable to meet with Hamas. The former president maintains he was never told not to go.

NOT ADVISABLE TO MEET WITH HAMAS… What part of the English language does Jimmy “Crackhead” Carter not understand?

Former President Jimmy Carter stopped just short Wednesday of saying Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is lying about warning him not to meet last week with Hamas leaders in Syria.

“President Carter has the greatest respect for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and believes her to be a truthful person,” read a statement issued by the Carter Center in Atlanta. “However, perhaps inadvertently, she is continuing to make a statement that is not true.”

Carter has said that he met with Assistant Secretary of State David Welch, and that Welch told him it was not advisable to meet with Hamas. The former president maintains he was never told not to go.

“No one in the State Department or any other department of the U.S. government ever asked him (Carter) to refrain from his recent visit to the Middle East or even suggested that he not meet with Syrian President (Bashar) Assad or leaders of Hamas,” said the Carter Center, which often speaks on the former president’s behalf.

The statement said Carter tried to call Rice before making the trip and a deputy returned his call, since Rice was in Europe.

“They had a very pleasant discussion for about 15 minutes, during which he never made any of the negative or cautionary comments described above. He never talked to anyone else,” the Carter Center statement said.

Rice on Tuesday told a very different story.

“I just don’t want there to be any confusion,” Rice told reporters covering her trip to Kuwait. “The United States is not going to deal with Hamas, and we certainly told President Carter that meeting with Hamas was not going to help” the current situation in the region.

Carter, meanwhile, said that Hamas’ top official, Khaled Meshaal, told him during meetings in Damascus on Friday and Saturday that the militant political organization would “accept a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders if approved by Palestinians.”

Hamas has stated its dedication to the destruction of Israel, and is listed by the State Department, European Union and Israel as a terrorist organization.

The Bush administration has said that Carter’s meetings could undermine the peace process started in Annapolis, Md., last year, and that Carter’s visit gave tacit recognition to a terrorist group.

Reuters and the Washington Post contributed to this story.

Carter Doesn’t Even Know What Happened At His Terrorist Tea Party

Well well well, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal says the opposite of Carter, Hamas will NEVER recognize Israel. Not quite pretty bed of flowers that Carter described. What a lying sack of shit Carter is. Hamas will offer Israel a 10 year truce if it withdraws to pre 1967 borders, well what happens after the 10 years are up? I will tell you what, Hamas and other terrorist organizations will use that time to build up an army and weapons arsenal to attack Israel to finish the original goal of the Islamic Middle East…

This is why Israel keeps fighting against all of these organizations on it’s borders, because if it does not do that, then Israel will face a force that will defeat it. Most liberals cry about how Israel is a terrorist nation and kills civilians blah blah blah. They say Israel’s campaigns create more terror. Bullshit. It keeps asshats like Mashaal in check and prevents them from becoming a major threat.

People like Carter and the rest of the left wing liberal nuts only promote terrorist like Hamas to thrive by making it look like they are a legitimate entity. They concede to these bastards and give them power. When will the world learn to stop viewing at terrorists through rose colored anal looking glasses.

JERUSALEM —  Just hours after former President Jimmy Carter trumpeted Hamas’ agreement to let Israel “live as a neighbor,” the same terrorist leader he met with face-to-face vowed not to recognize the Jewish state.

But Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal did offer Israel a 10-year truce if it withdraws from all lands it seized in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

Carter met twice with Mashaal over the weekend.

The former president also said Monday that he would never sit down with Al Qaeda because the terror network has no “redeeming features.”

“[Al Qaeda] are not involved in any sort of a fruitful process. They are not recognized by their own people,” Carter told FOX News in an interview Monday. “On the other hand, you have to remember Hamas in an honest and open and fair and transparent election were elected the leaders of the Palestinian government.”

Carter claimed his meetings with Hamas and Syrian leaders weren’t meant to circumvent the Bush administration, nor was it an attempt to formally negotiate with Hamas.

“I’m not undermining anything. I’m not negotiating. … I’m just here representing myself and the Carter Center. No one else,” he said. “My decision was just to talk to people who must be involved in the final peace agreement.

“Syria and Hamas will have to be involved in the long term,” he said. “And I thought I could at least talk to them and relay their opinions.”

When asked whether he’d ever meet with Al Qaeda, Carter replied, “No, of course not.”

“I don’t see any redeeming features of Al Qaeda at all,” he said.

When making a distinction between Usama bin Laden’s terror network and Hamas, which has been in power since the 2006 Palestinian elections, Carter said that Israeli citizens backed his talks with Hamas.

“The Israeli people strongly support what I have done, at least indirectly,” he claimed, citing polls that show “that 64 percent of all Israeli citizens strongly support direct talks between the government of Israel and Hamas.”

Speaking in Jerusalem, the former president said Hamas is prepared to accept the outcome of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, provided it is approved in a Palestinian referendum, or by a Palestinian government chosen in new elections.

“We do not believe that peace is likely and certainly that peace is not sustainable unless a way is found to bring Hamas into the discussions in some way,” he said. “The present strategy of excluding Hamas and excluding Syria is just not working.”

Carter met with top Hamas leaders in Syria for two days last week. His speech capped a nine-day visit to the Mideast designed to break the deadlock between Israel and Hamas militants who rule Gaza.

In the past, Hamas officials have said they would establish a “peace in stages” if Israel were to withdraw to the frontiers it held before the 1967 Mideast War. But it has been evasive about how it sees the final borders of a Palestinian state, and has not abandoned its official call for Israel’s destruction.

Israel and the U.S. State Department consider Hamas to be a terrorist group. Israeli officials had shunned Carter during his visit because of his meetings with Mashaal, and other group leaders.

Syria harbors Hamas’ exiled leadership in its capital, Damascus, and supports the Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas who warred with Israel in 2006.

Carter said Hamas wouldn’t undermine moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ efforts to reach a peace deal with Israel, as long as the Palestinian people approved it in a referendum. In such a scenario, he said, Hamas would not oppose a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza.

Hamas leaders “said that they would accept a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders” and they would “accept the right of Israel to live as a neighbor next door in peace,” he said.

The borders he referred to were the frontiers that existed before Israel captured large swaths of Arab lands in 1967 — including the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza.

Israel, which evacuated Gaza in 2005, has accepted the idea of a Palestinian state there and in much of the West Bank, but has resisted Palestinian demands that it return to its 1967 frontiers.

Both the Israeli and U.S. governments disapprove of Carter’s overtures to Hamas, which they consider to be a terrorist organization. Over the weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he did not meet with Carter in Israel because he did not wish to be seen as participating in any negotiations with Hamas.

During his trip, Carter met only with Israeli President Shimon Peres and Eli Yishai, one of several deputy prime ministers. Peres scolded Carter for meeting with Hamas, but Yishai, of the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party, said he was willing to meet with Hamas leaders to discuss a prisoner exchange.

Israel says Carter’s talks embolden Palestinian extremists and hurt Palestinian moderates as they try to make peace with the Jewish state. Abbas, who rules only the West Bank, is in a bitter rivalry with Hamas.

“The problem is not that I met with Hamas in Syria,” Carter said Monday. “The problem is that Israel and the United States refuse to meet with someone who must be involved.”

Carter said direct communication between Israel and Hamas could facilitate the release of a captured Israeli soldier, Cpl. Gilad Schalit, who has been held in Gaza for nearly two years.

Israel agrees in principle to trade 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for Schalit, but after back-and-forth talks through Egyptian intermediaries, has approved only 71 of the specific prisoners that Hamas wants freed, he said.

Carter said Hamas has promised to let Schalit send a letter to his parents to assure them he is in good health, and said the militants “made clear to us that they would accept an interim ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.”

Carter, however, said Hamas rejected his specific proposal for a monthlong unilateral truce.

“They turned me down, and I think they’re wrong,” he said.

FOX News’ Reena Ninan and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Carter Has Ended The Palestinian/Israeli Conflict

No not really, but anyone that read the headline and believed, please contact me, I have a bridge for sale…

Carter claims Hamas ready for peace with Israel… Yeah right… This vile ex-President, who has meet on many occassions with a Terrorist Organization, claiming you have to talk with the enemy to make peace with them, disgraced the soldiers that died in Beirut at the hands of Hezbollah by meeting in Syria with Hamas on the 25th anniversary of the barracks bombing, is blowing smoke up the public’s ass, and has accomplished nothing.

Until Hamas stops its terror campaign, there cannot be any chance of peace.

Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, later said Carter’s comments “do not mean that Hamas is going to accept the result of the referendum.”

Here is the key, no matter what peace agreement is reached, until Israel is no longer, Hamas will not stop.

 JERUSALEM —  Former President Jimmy Carter said Monday that Hamas is prepared to accept the right of Israel to “live as a neighbor next door in peace.”

Carter said the group promised it wouldn’t undermine Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ efforts to reach a peace deal with Israel, as long as the Palestinian people approved it in a referendum. In such a scenario, he said Hamas would not oppose a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza.

Hamas, a militant Islamic group that both the U.S. and Israel consider a terrorist organization, calls in its charter for Israel’s destruction. It has also traditionally opposed peace negotiations with the Jewish state.

Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, later said Carter’s comments “do not mean that Hamas is going to accept the result of the referendum.”

Carter’s comments came after his much criticized meetings with the top Hamas leaders in Syria in last week.

The Nobel laureate also urged Israel to engage in direct negotiations with the Islamic militant group, saying it was a “problem” that Israel and the U.S. refuse to meet with Hamas. Both governments consider it a terrorist organization.

“The problem is not that I met with Hamas in Syria,” he said. “The problem is that Israel and the United States refuse to meet with someone who must be involved.”

“There’s no doubt that both the Arab world and Hamas will accept Israel’s right to exist in peace within 1967 borders,” he said, referring to Israel’s frontiers before it captured large swaths of Arab lands in the 1967 Mideast war.

Over the weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he decided not to meet with Carter in Israel because he does not wish to be seen as participating in any negotiations with Hamas.

In his comments Monday, Carter said Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking has “regressed” since a U.S.-hosted Mideast conference in Annapolis, Md., in November.

Israel has been negotiating directly with Abbas, who heads a moderate government based in the West Bank. Abbas lost control of the Gaza Strip last June, when Hamas violently seized control of that territory.

Carter said Hamas has promised to let a captured Israeli soldier send a letter to his parents, and said the militants “made clear to us that they would accept an interim cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.”

However, Carter said Hamas rejected his specific proposal for a monthlong unilateral cease-fire.

 

I also find Carter’s timing a bit curious… He chose to meet with Hamas just before the start of Passover and again after Passover started… Hmmm… I guess maybe there was extra plague the bible left out, terrorists…

Now Hamas’ real answer to Carter’s peace making trip, a step up of attacks from Gaza. These attacks were authorized if not ordered during the talks with Carter.

As for Hamas, our intelligence sources report that Saturday, April 19, after the Gazan leaders Mahmoud a-Zahar and Siad Siyam, fresh from their Cairo stalemate, met former US president Jimmy Carter in Damascus – and heard his suggestion of a one- or two-week halt in rocket fire as a gesture of good will – they went straight into a conference with their masters.

Khaled Meshaal and Mussa Abu Marzuk were there as well as Iranian intelligence officers based permanently in Syria and Syrian intelligence officers who maintain liaison with Hamas. It was agreed that Hamas would not only continue to batter the Gaza-Israel border as in the last ten days, but intensify its assaults against a broader range of targets.

Sunday night, Hamas fired 8 Qassam missiles and half a dozen mortar rounds against Israel civilian locations, their first nocturnal attack of this kind.

Shortly before midnight, they directed fire at Israeli farmers who were harvesting the Kibbutz Nir Oz potato crop in bullet-proof vests by night to escape sniper fire from Gaza. Israeli air force strikes followed, hitting armed Palestinian bands. At least 8 gunmen were killed over the week end.

DEBKAfile’s military sources stress that these Israeli attacks and the deaths of its operatives offer Hamas neither disincentive nor impediment for its war preparations

Hamas Attacks Fuel Terminal – Will Protest Israel/Egyptian Blockade

Hamas, you know th guys Jimmy Carter is going to go and have tea with, attacka fuel terminal on the Israeli/Gaza border. This fuel terminal supplies Gaza.

Now, Hamas is planning a protest today against the Israel/Egyption blockades and is planning on braking down the border between Egypt and Gaza. This really says alot about Hamas.

Egypt is threatening Hamas if they do try to do this. Now what is great is it is Egypt who should be providing goods, fuel and electricity to Gaza, but nobody says anything about their partition of the Gaza Strip.

DEBKAfile’s military sources report that, following the Palestinian attack on the Israel-Gaza border fuel terminal that supplies its own population, Hamas plans a mass protest Thursday, April 10 against the “Israeli and Egyptian blockade” of the Gaza Strip. Our sources report that a tough Egyptian message put Hamas off its plan for another attempt to smash through the Gaza border to Egyptian Sinai. Cairo warned that this time, any Palestinians forcing their way through would be “shot down like rats.” To drive the message home, convoys of Egyptian truck with visible firing positions and open crates of ammo have been rolling up and down the Gaza border past the new wall they have built the length of the Philadelphi border strip.

Thursday, Egyptian security forces drawn from Cairo and Ismailia were still massing on the Sinai side of Rafah, after Hamas leader Khalil al-Haya announced that the next Palestinian breakthrough to Sinai would be broader and extend to all of Gaza’s borders. (Its only other one is with Israel)

Israel in contrast did nothing to make good on defense minister Ehud Barak’s threat to “make Hamas pay” for the rising violence against civilians emanating from the territory it governs. It is widely predicted that Israel will carry on shipping fuel to Gaza through the Nahal Oz terminal where Wednesday, April 9. Palestinian gunmen murdered two Israeli energy company workers employed in keeping this lifeline open for the Gaza population.