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Former US president Jimmy Carter Thursday condemned
Israel's continuing war crimes against the Palestinians in Gaza.
"The world is witnessing a terrible human rights crime in Gaza,
where a million and a half human beings are being imprisoned
with almost no access to the outside world. An entire population
is being brutally punished," Carter said.
"The world must stop standing idle while the people of Gaza
are treated with such cruelty," he warned in an article for the
Guardian newspaper.
"It is time for strong voices in Europe, the US, Israel and
elsewhere to speak out and condemn the human rights
tragedy that has befallen the Palestinian people," the former
president said.
He related that the "gross mistreatment of the Palestinians in
Gaza was escalated dramatically by Israel, with US backing,
after political candidates representing Hamas won a majority
of seats in the Palestinian Authority parliament in 2006."
Some of Israel's crimes included imprisoning 42 of the 43
victorious Hamas candidates who lived in the West, plus
an additional 10 who assumed positions in the short-lived
coalition cabinet.
Regardless of one's choice in the partisan struggle, "we must
remember that economic sanctions and restrictions on the
supply of water, food, electricity and fuel are causing extreme
hardship among the innocent people in Gaza," Carter said.
Israeli bombs and missiles, he said, periodically strike the area,
causing "high casualties among both militants and innocent women
and children."
On a recent visit to the Middle East, the former US president
met with leaders of Hamas urged that they declare a unilateral
ceasefire or orchestrate with Israel a mutual agreement to
terminate all military action in and around Gaza for an extended
period.
But he said their response was that "such action by them in the
past had not been reciprocated, and they reminded me that
Hamas had previously insisted on a ceasefire throughout
Palestine, including Gaza and the West Bank, which Israel
had refused.
"Hamas has agreed to accept any negotiated peace settlement
between the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud
Abbas, and Israel's prime minister, Ehud Olmert, provided it
is approved in a referendum of the Palestinian people," he also said.
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