timNem
04-22-2008, 06:26 PM
Here is a point to ponder: When you and several other countries declare war on a single country don't hold a grudge when you lose land that you surrendered after getting your @ss kicked.
JIMMY'S HA-MESS
THUGS RATTLE BOAST OF 'SUCCESS'
By ANDY SOLTIS
April 22, 2008 -- Former President Jimmy Carter wound up his controversial Mideast jaunt by declaring partial success - but Hamas officials quickly undermined his claims.
Carter said Hamas' top official, Khaled Meshaal, told him he was ready to accept Israel's right to "live as a neighbor next door in peace" to a Palestinian state comprising land Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war.
But Meshaal, who lives in Damascus, Syria, appeared to restate Hamas' previous position without softening its demands - or renouncing terrorism.
"We agree to a state on pre-'67 borders, with Jerusalem as its capital with genuine sovereignty without settlements, but without recognizing Israel," he told reporters.
Israel and the United States shrugged off the claim of a peace breakthrough.
"I think you can take it with a grain of salt. We have to look at the public comments, and we also have to look at actions, and actions speak louder than words," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.
A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert noted that rocket attacks on Israel continue from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. "Israel sees no change in Hamas' extremist positions," the spokesman said.
Carter acknowledged he wasn't negotiating on his nine-day Mideast tour "because I can't talk to Israeli officials," who have snubbed him.
Instead, he said he asked for Hamas to make a gesture to show its peaceful intentions by declaring a 30-day halt to cross-border rocket attacks and freeing a captured Israeli soldier.
"I did the best I could on that," he said in Jerusalem. "They turned me down."
Meshaal did offer a conditional 10-year cease-fire.
But a Hamas spokesman, Abu Jandal, told a Palestinian newspaper that the group would launch fiercer attacks on Israel's border with the Gaza Strip than the recent ones that have killed five Israelis.
Another Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, said that even if Israel withdraws to the 1967 borders, those lines would be "transitional."
He left open the prospect of Hamas still seeking all Israeli land as part of its state.
Carter said the Hamas officials he met "didn't say anything about 'transitional.' "
In the past, Hamas officials have said they would establish a "peace in stages" if Israel were to withdraw to the borders it held before 1967.
JIMMY'S HA-MESS
THUGS RATTLE BOAST OF 'SUCCESS'
By ANDY SOLTIS
April 22, 2008 -- Former President Jimmy Carter wound up his controversial Mideast jaunt by declaring partial success - but Hamas officials quickly undermined his claims.
Carter said Hamas' top official, Khaled Meshaal, told him he was ready to accept Israel's right to "live as a neighbor next door in peace" to a Palestinian state comprising land Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war.
But Meshaal, who lives in Damascus, Syria, appeared to restate Hamas' previous position without softening its demands - or renouncing terrorism.
"We agree to a state on pre-'67 borders, with Jerusalem as its capital with genuine sovereignty without settlements, but without recognizing Israel," he told reporters.
Israel and the United States shrugged off the claim of a peace breakthrough.
"I think you can take it with a grain of salt. We have to look at the public comments, and we also have to look at actions, and actions speak louder than words," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.
A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert noted that rocket attacks on Israel continue from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. "Israel sees no change in Hamas' extremist positions," the spokesman said.
Carter acknowledged he wasn't negotiating on his nine-day Mideast tour "because I can't talk to Israeli officials," who have snubbed him.
Instead, he said he asked for Hamas to make a gesture to show its peaceful intentions by declaring a 30-day halt to cross-border rocket attacks and freeing a captured Israeli soldier.
"I did the best I could on that," he said in Jerusalem. "They turned me down."
Meshaal did offer a conditional 10-year cease-fire.
But a Hamas spokesman, Abu Jandal, told a Palestinian newspaper that the group would launch fiercer attacks on Israel's border with the Gaza Strip than the recent ones that have killed five Israelis.
Another Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, said that even if Israel withdraws to the 1967 borders, those lines would be "transitional."
He left open the prospect of Hamas still seeking all Israeli land as part of its state.
Carter said the Hamas officials he met "didn't say anything about 'transitional.' "
In the past, Hamas officials have said they would establish a "peace in stages" if Israel were to withdraw to the borders it held before 1967.