Haneyya renews invitation to Carter to visit Gaza

Haneyya renews invitation to Carter to visit Gaza

Ismail Haneyya, 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 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-Zahhar, 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. Zahhar said that he and Said Siyam, 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 Haneyya 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 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.