Joining a world chorus condemnation for the Israeli war on Gaza, the former US president Jimmy Carter along with the former Irish president Mary Robinson have called for recognizing Hamas as a “legitimate political actor”.
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“There is no humane or legal justification for the way the Israeli Defense Forces are conducting this war,” Carter and Robinson wrote for Foreign Policy magazine.
“Hamas cannot be wished away, nor will it co-operate in its own demise.
“Only by recognizing its legitimacy as a political actor — one that represents a substantial portion of the Palestinian people — can the West begin to provide the right incentives for Hamas to lay down its weapons.”
These views have been expressed in an article the US 39th President co-wrote with the former Irish president for Foreign Policy magazine.
The duo western leaders have accused Israel of spoiling the formation of the unity government between Fatah and Hamas, besides destabilizing the region.
Deploring the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, the pair said that “war crimes” against civilians should be investigated.
“There is never an excuse for deliberate attacks on civilians in conflict. These are war crimes,” the leaders said.
Condemning the blockade of Gaza, Carter said that the international community should push for the “full restoration of the free movement of people and goods to and from Gaza through Israel, Egypt and the sea”.
Under the auspices of Carter, Egyptian President Mohammad Anwar El-Sadat and late Israeli Premier Menachem Begin have signed Camp David Accords peace treaty in 1978 that left dozens of Palestinian families scattered across both sides of Rafah.
Israel has been launching relentless airstrikes against Gaza since July 8 where hundreds have been killed and thousands injured.
Israel has claimed that its new war on Gaza, under the title Operation Protect Edge, was a response to the rocket attacks being carried out by Hamas.
Israel occupation forces started a ground invasion of besieged Gaza, home to two millions civilian, on Thursday, July 17.
Health officials in Gaza said 1,868 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed and nearly 10,000 injured since Israel launched its war on the besieged strip.
A total of 67 Israelis, all but three of them soldiers, have died.
On Tuesday, August 5, Hamas and Israel started a 72-hour ceasefire with Hamas mediated by Egypt as a first step towards negotiations on a more enduring end to the month-old war.
