Israel-War Crimes
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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