Former US president, Jimmy Carter’s visit to Occupied Palestine, Egypt and Syria and his talks with Hamas leaders have been analyzed from different angles.
Some allow a great deal of significance to the tour, and believe Cater has diverse political stances regarding the ongoing crises in the occupied Arab territories.
Unlike other US rulers who obediently implemented Israeli-dictated Middle East policies, Carter has authored a book on Palestine, proposing a new direction to resolve the half-century old conflict between the usurper state and the Palestinians.
In his book he makes a clear case for the need to restore the rights of the oppressed Palestinians in the interest of lasting peace and justice in the troubled region.
Two years ago Carter supervised the Palestinian parliamentary elections billed by all international observers “free and fair“.
When the results were announced and Hamas emerged as the winner, Carter confirmed the vote and threw his full weight behind it.
At the weekend, the former American leader met Mahmoud Zahar and Said Siam--two top Hamas officials-- in Cairo despite strong opposition by the Zionist regime and its patrons in Washington.
Such courage and pubic calls for Tel Aviv to end its criminal policies and atrocities against a defenseless people is highly appreciated and worthy of respect.
Carter’s four-hour meeting in Damascus with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal was another development that made Washingtonian rulers and the Zionists furious, uneasy and desperate.
But Carter was not to be intimidated as he has long been pursing a global agenda independent of US government.
In a rare condemnation of the lawless state, he told a question-answer session at the American University in Cairo that Israel’s Gaza siege is an “atrocity“ which cannot and should not be allowed to continue.
Some regional observers claim the Hamas-Carter negotiations need not be given more than its worth because it will not produce anything substantial. They say the talks were not in serious contrast with Israeli policies.
Analysts recall that the 1979 Camp David Accord between Egypt and the Zionist regime brokered by President Carter, helped stabilize Israel as a state and created major rifts in Arab ranks.
The argument goes that Camp David upset the balance of power between the Arabs and the Israeli enemy, and with Egypt in denial made it almost impossible for the former to liberate Occupied Palestine.
Seen from this prism, it could be said that issues discussed between Carter and Hamas leaders including exchange of prisoners and working for a lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were pretty close to the Israeli agenda.
After Hamas took control of Gaza two years ago following a resounding victory in parliament elections, Israel understandably got nervous.
It embarked on a crude war against the Palestinians and intensified the siege of the tiny strip on ways unseen in the recent past.
That and George Bush’s unquestionable support for the Israeli policy of raining death and destruction on the oppressed Palestinians could not dislodge Hamas.
Thanks to the popular resistance against the Israeli sanctions, siege and crimes against humanity, Hamas will sooner or later compel the western-backed Israeli regime to rearrange its priorities.
With Hamas rockets making Israel more vulnerable than it is willing to admit, rulers in Occupied Palestine should come to their senses and see the miserable failure of their anti-Hamas policy for what it is.