Israel Matzav

Carter to meet with Zahar, Siyam

Former US President Dhimmi Carter's magical mystery tour continues in Cairo this afternoon with a meeting with Hamastan's Prime Minister (and former foreign minister in the 'Palestinian unity government') Mahmoud al-Zahar (pictured, top left) and former interior minister in the 'Palestinian unity government' Said Siyam (Hat Tip: Gateway Pundit).

The Palestinian Prime Minister in the Hamas-run de facto government, Isma'il Haniyeh, was also invited to the meeting, but could not make it to Egypt for what he called "private reasons."

Senior Hamas leader Ayman Taha told Ma'an that the meeting will be held in Cairo on Wednesday evening, and will address the siege of the Gaza Strip and a potential ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian military forces.

Taha said Hamas would not change its position, demanding that any ceasefire include both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, an end of the siege of Gaza and halting Israeli offensives.

"I came here to listen to the Palestinian point of view, and we are interested to convey the image to the whole world," Carter said before the meeting with Hamas leaders.

If the Israeli government had any - you know what - they would target Zahar and Siyam at the Rafah crossing. Unfortunately, we all know that won't happen. I wonder how much cash Zahar will bring back in his suitcase.

Unfortunately, Carter's trip has done significant damage to Israel because our 'leadership' couldn't get its act together to make a unified stand against him.

But Israel, being Israel, could not reach a consensus snub, even in the upper echelons. As a result, Carter, the midwife of the Camp David accords and author of Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, got his high-profile meetings with some Israeli leaders, gaining an audience with President Shimon Peres on Sunday and scheduled to meet Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Eli Yishai on Wednesday.

These meetings, according to diplomatic officials, can now be used by Carter against pro-Israel activists in the US trying to marginalize him because of his comparisons between Israel and apartheid South Africa. The concern is that Carter will now accuse his Jewish critics in the US of "hysteria," pointing out that Israel's own president had no problem meeting him.

Officials in Peres's office, meanwhile, were quoted as saying that Peres took Carter to task on Sunday for his book. But at least one participant in the meeting could not recall the nature of that criticism. Peres, in short, didn't exactly rake Carter over the coals. Indeed, the comments from Peres's office about criticism of the former president was cause for some of Carter's handlers to complain - according to Israeli officials - that these statements didn't adequately reflect the spirit of the meeting.

Indeed, the 'Palestinians' have already begun making political capital from their meetings with Carter. This is Hamas' spokesman in Gaza, Ismail Radhwan on al-Jazeera. Let's go to the videotape.



In short, Carter's trip to the region is an unmitigated disaster for Israel, with no one in the government or the Knesset having the - you know what - to stand up and tell Carter that he's persona non grata and should leave. The result of this may be the breaking of the European Union's (and maybe even the United States if there's an Obama presidency God forbid) surprisingly uniform boycott of Hamas over the last two years plus. And that would be really bad news.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:30 PM