Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are being "treated more like animals than human beings", former U.S. president Jimmy Carter said on Tuesday.

On a visit to the enclave, he condemned Israel's January bombardment of Gaza and its continuing trade blockade, which he said forbids even children's toys.

"I understand that even paper and crayons are treated as a security hazard," he told Gazans at a local United Nations office. "I sought an explanation of this when I met with Israeli officials and I received none, because there is no explanation."
...
[b]"Never before in history has a large community like this been savaged by bombs and missiles and then been deprived of the means to repair itself," he said.[b]

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSLG562794

of any 'standing", at all, who is trying to tell the truth about the genocide going on in Gaza. He said that the Palestinians were being treated by the Israelis "like animals" and that the fault lay in "Jerusalem, Cairo, Washington, and the capitals of Europe." He is carrying a weight; I hope his health holds up; I hope Gaza can hold up. I seem to stay in a condition of powerless anger - it is getting old...

thank you Jimmy! :adore:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/06/16/gaza.carter.visit/


Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said Tuesday on a visit to Gaza that he had to "hold back tears" when he saw the destruction caused by the deadly campaign Israel waged against Gaza militants in January.
Former President Jimmy Carter visits an American school in Gaza destroyed by Israeli bombings.

Carter was wrapping up a visit to the region during which he met representatives of all sides of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Among the sites he visited was the American school that was destroyed by the bombings Israel initiated in response to rocket attacks launched from Gaza into southern Israel.

"It is very distressing to me. I have to hold back tears when I see the deliberate destruction that has been raked against your people.

"I come to the American school which was educating your children, supported by my own country. I see it's been deliberately destroyed by bombs from F16s made in my country and delivered to the Israelis. I feel partially responsible for this -- as must all Americans and all Israelis," Carter said at a news conference.

"The only way to avoid this tragedy happening again is to have genuine peace," he added, pointing out that many Palestinians are now fighting each other in the West Bank and Gaza because of their affiliations with Hamas or Fatah.
Don't Miss

* Netanyahu calls for demilitarized Palestinian state

"It's very important that Palestinians agree with each other, to cooperate and stop attacking each other and to build a common approach to an election that I hope to witness and observe next January the 25th."

After the briefing, Carter headed to a graduation ceremony for students who completed a human rights curriculum provided by UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.

"The human rights curriculum is teaching children about their rights and also about their responsibilities," Carter said in his speech to graduates.

In his speech to graduates, Carter said bombings, tanks and a continuing economic siege have brought death, destruction, pain and suffering to Gaza. "Tragically, the international community largely ignores the cries for help, while the citizens of Gaza are treated more like animals than human beings."

"The responsibility for this terrible human rights crime lies in Jerusalem, Cairo, Washington, and throughout the international community," Carter said.

At a news conference later in Tel Aviv, reporters asked the former president about media reports early Tuesday that said Hamas had thwarted a possible assassination plot against him.

The Israeli daily Maariv, quoting a Palestinian source, said explosives had been placed on a road Carter was due to travel on. Citing the source, the newspaper said it was a plot by an al Qaeda-affiliated group based in Gaza.

"I don't believe it's true," Carter said. "I don't know anything about it.

"None of our people were aware of being rerouted. I asked our driver and I asked the others in charge of making the arrangements, (and) they didn't know anything about it."

Carter said some of his staff asked Gaza's minister of interior, who is in charge of security, and he also was unfamiliar with the report.

Also in Gaza, Carter met with Hamas leaders, who he said "want peace and they want to have reconciliation not only with their Fatah brothers but also, eventually, with the Israelis to live side by side.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/16/carter-hamas-gaza-israel/print


Former US president Jimmy Carter met Hamas leaders in Gaza for three hours today , becoming the Islamist movement's most high profile western visitor in recent years.

Carter spent the day in Gaza seeing for himself the destruction from Israel's war in January before holding talks with Ismail Haniyeh, the former Palestinian prime minister, and other Hamas officials.

Before the meeting he spoke forcefully against the two-year-old economic blockade of Gaza and the war, saying they had brought "death, destruction, pain and suffering to the people here".

Under the blockade exports are banned and imports into Gaza are limited to some humanitarian goods – concrete, metal, glass and other construction materials in particular are forbidden. Egypt has also largely kept its crossing into Gaza at Rafah closed.

"Tragically, the international community largely ignores the cries for help, while the citizens of Gaza are treated more like animals than human beings," Carter told teachers and parents at an awards ceremony for UN refugee school pupils.

Carter said he had asked Israeli officials to explain the blockade and why items like paper and crayons were banned from Gaza. "I sought an explanation for this policy in Israel, but did not receive a satisfactory answer – because there is none," he said.

"The responsibility for this terrible human rights crime lies in Jerusalem, Cairo, Washington, and throughout the international community. This abuse must cease; the crimes must be investigated; the walls must be brought down, and the basic right of freedom must come to you," he told the crowd.

He said Palestinian statehood could not come at the expense of Israeli security, while Israeli security could not come at the expense of Palestinian statehood.

Although Carter, who first visited Gaza 36 years ago, stressed he was in Gaza as a private citizen, he said he would be meeting US officials to discuss his visit to the region and would submit a report to President Barack Obama. Earlier in the trip he met the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, and Khaled Meshal, the head of Hamas, in Damascus, as well as travelling to Lebanon, Israel and the occupied West Bank.

Carter said he would continue to urge Hamas to accept that it should renounce violence, accept previous peace agreements and recognise Israel – the conditions set by Israel and the international community. He would also discuss the case of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier captured by Palestinian militants three years ago who is held somewhere in Gaza. Carter, who met Shalit's parents last week, brought with him a letter for the soldier, and said he was pressing Israel to release Palestinian prisoners in exchange.

After the meeting, Carter said he was encouraging reconciliation of the rival Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah. Each faction should release prisoners it held from the other side in the West Bank and Gaza.

Haniyeh, who led Hamas to victory in Palestinian elections three years ago, said he had been encouraged by Obama's speech in Cairo this month, which showed "a new tongue, a new language, a new spirit". Hamas wanted to end the conflict and to "establish a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders with sovereignty" and with a capital in east Jerusalem, he said. The Islamist movement was working with other factions in Gaza to hold a ceasefire in attacks on Israel, he said.

Violence in Gaza has declined significantly since the war, although there are sporadic attacks by both Gazan militants and Israeli forces.