Ismail Haniya, the Palestinian Prime Minister, renewed his invitation to former President Jimmy Carter to visit Gaza to see for himself the magnitude of the tragedy experienced by its people, expressing hope that Egypt would secure his arrival in the Gaza Strip after Israel refused to allow him to visit it.
Carter is expected to meet with a Hamas delegation from the Gaza Strip in Cairo.
Before leaving Gaza on his way to Cairo, Dr. Mahmoud Al-Zahar, a prominent Hamas leader, praised the initiative taken by Carter to meet with Hamas leaders and said that this should serve as a message to those who choose to ignore the legislative elections results and raise doubts about the legitimacy of Hamas.
The former American president had supervised the legislative elections in 2006 and expressed respect for the results after Hamas won a landslide victory.
Dr. Zahar said that he and Said Seyam, the head of the Hamas parliamentary bloc, would meet during their presence in Cairo a number of Egyptian officials to discuss with them all outstanding issues especially the opening of the Rafah border crossing.
Meanwhile, Ismail Haniya expressed hope that the Hamas delegation's visit to Cairo would succeed in removing the tension which developed lately with Egypt and that its meeting with the former US president and Egyptian officials would result in reopening of the Rafah border crossing.
The premier highlighted his movements readiness to resume the inter-Palestinian dialog under Egyptian auspices to solve the issue of the Rafah border crossing as a start and then continue the process of reconciliation.
Gaza – Ma'an – Senior Hamas leaders Mahmoud Zahhar and Sa'id Siyam headed to Egypt on Wednesday to meet former US President Jimmy Carter, Hamas officials said.
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.
Zahhar and Siyam are scheduled to meet also with Egyptian intelligence chief Umar Sulaiman and other officials. They are scheduled to return to Gaza on Thursday.
Two leaders of the ruling Hamas party in Gaza, Mahmoud Al-Zahar and Said Seyam, headed for Egypt on Wednesday morning to meet with former U.S President Jimmy Carter, upon an invitation by Carter, who is currently visiting the region.
Palestinian sources in Gaza said that the meeting, which will be held in Cairo, will deal with underway issues such as the Israeli blockade of Gaza as well as the ceasefire with Israel.
Alongside the meeting, both Hamas officials will be meeting with Egyptian intelligence security chief, Omar Sulaiman and a number of Egyptian officials.
In 1979, Carter patronized the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty, which laid the foundations for the Palestinian-Israeli peace process. More recently, he participated in the monitoring of the 2006 Palestinian elections, which brought Hamas to power.
Informed Palestinian sources revealed Tuesday that former US president Jimmy Carter tabled a formal request with the Egyptian government to allow him to meet with premier Ismail Haniya and a number of Hamas leaders on the Egyptian lands.
The sources told the PIC reporter that the Egyptian government approved the request and also sent it to premier Haniya to study it along with Hamas leaders, pointing out that there could be a meeting between Egyptian delegation and Hamas leaders before or after a meeting with Carter in case Hamas did approve.
Carter had met Tuesday in Ramallah in the West Bank with former deputy premier of the tenth Palestinian government and education minister Dr. Nasser Al-Sha'er, and he is scheduled to meet with Khaled Mesha'al, the head of the Hamas political bureau, at the end of this week in Damascus.
In his statements in Ramallah, Carter said that he wanted to visit the Gaza Strip, but the Israeli occupation government refused to consent to the visit, but he pointed that he might visit Gaza in some other way.
Despite the pressures of the American administration, the 83-year-old Nobel peace laureate and former US president is still insistent on meeting Hamas leaders especially Mesha'al.