Talking Elections With The President
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Posted in:
Features
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| Bushra Burney | Nov. 21, 2008 | 1:29 AM |
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Former President Jimmy Carter lives an illustrious life that can be traced from his beginnings in Plains, Ga. A career in politics surfaced after he spent time in the Navy and tended to the family farm. Carter served in the Georgia Senate and then became the Governor of Georgia before he was sworn in as the 39th President of the United States of America. After his term from 1977-1981, he has remained a dedicated public servant with his many humanitarian endeavors. In 1982, Former President Carter and his wife Rosalyn founded the Carter Center which, according to the organization’s website, “is committed to advancing human rights and alleviating unnecessary human suffering”. To this day, he remains heavily involved with the work of the Center. In addition, he is also the author of 23 books.
Yet, while Carter continues his humanitarian activities which have earned him a multitude of accolades over the years, including the Nobel Peace Price in 2002 and even the honor of getting a submarine named after him, it seems that he did not really return to the public limelight until his book “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid” was published in November 2006 in which he said that the Palestinian occupation was an obstacle to peace in the Middle East. Simultaneously praised and criticized for his views on this issue, Carter understood the need for peace between not only Israel and Palestine but among Israel and the rest of the Middle East.
This need culminated into a trip to the Middle East this past April. This visit was met with controversy by both the United States and Israel as Carter was determined to talk to members of Hamas. The U.S. government advised the former president against meeting with Hamas leaders and it was reported that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert declined to meet Carter during his return trip to Israel. Washington stressed that Mr. Carter was acting on his own and did not represent anyone but himself. Carter still met with members of Hamas, including exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal to discuss a possible truce between Hamas and the Israeli government.
In his trip report available on the Carter Center website, Carter mentioned meeting Hamas and why it may have seemed a controversial move for him to meet spokespeople from the group: “Some feel that my meeting with Hamas legitimized them, but their legitimacy came when a plurality of the Palestinian people voted for them in the 2006 elections, which I observed”. The Former President noted that the current treatment of the people of Gaza is only increasing the problem, leading to violence, and that both the U.S. and the Israeli government need to include Hamas in peace talks: “The problem is not that we met them, but that the U.S. and Israeli governments refuse to meet with them, making peace harder if not impossible to achieve.”
Carter continues to monitor the actions of the Middle Eastern countries, providing op-ed pieces on the Carter Center website on this topic and other humanitarian issues.
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