Saluting President Jimmy Carter and the Elders group

The Elders, an independent group of eminent global leaders, brought together by Nelson Mandela, who offers their collective influence and experience to support peace building, helped address the major causes of human suffering and promote the shared interested of humanity. The Elders group was formed in 2007 to support worldwide peace-making and challenge injustice. Their recent visit to the Middle East is to help the Israelis and Palestinians reach a peaceful settlement and lift the unjust blockade of Gaza.

The Elders group, which consists of former Irish President Mary Robinson, former President Jimmy Carter, Indian activist Ela Bhatt and Algerian ex-Foreign Minister Lakhdar Brahimi, is on a peace mission in the Middle East. They have visited Syria (10/19/2010) and met with Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal. The Elders were in Cairo a few days earlier. Also, they held talks with leaders and civil society groups in Jordan, Israel, and the West Bank. The Elders called on Palestinian political factions to unite, while in Damascus, former President Jimmy Carter said that Palestinians are “living in a cage” in Gaza and that the militant Hamas must be included in all major efforts for peace. President Carter made the remarks in the forum of a delegation, “the Elders.” (www.informationclearinghouse.info/article, 10/12/2010)

It is unfortunate that the U.S. government, under the pressure and influence of the Israeli government, has classified Hamas as a terrorist organization and refused to recognize the group as part of the peace negotiations. Hamas won the first free election by a majority vote of the Palestinian people in 2006. Despite the fact that foreign observers supervised the election that took place in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, the U.S. and Israel refused to acknowledge the outcome of that free election. American politicians, as usual, speak from both sides of their mouths. Quite frequently, they advocate democracy and free election, but when the results of an election are not in their favor, they turn their back against the free democratic elections. The American government has been responsible for the creation of the Palestinian tragedy, which has been going on for the last sixty years. The Palestinians have been treated like sub-human creatures by the fascist Israeli government on a daily basis. Former President Carter’s remarks about 1.5 million Palestinians living in a cage has been recognized by many world leaders, including President Obama, who stated publicly that the blockade of Gaza must end. The irony of such a situation is that even President Obama himself does not have the backbone or the courage to stand up to the Israeli government and their supporters in the U.S. Even the Goldstone Report of the Israeli invasion of Gaza in 2008 stated that the Israeli army committed war crimes against the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza. More than 1,400 Palestinians were killed during the invasion and most of the dead were women and children.

Israel has been condemned by many world and legal organizations for its crimes against the Palestinian people. The tragedy is the fact that when the Palestinians resist occupation, which they are entitled to do according to the 1948 Geneva treaty, then they are labeled terrorists. Furthermore, when the Palestinians take their case to the Security Council of the U.N. to complain about the Israeli aggression, the U.S. always uses its veto power and neutralizes any possible outcome from the Security Council. The U.S. has used its veto power at the Security Council more than any other member to protect Israel.