Carter calls for reconstruction of Gaza

Former US president Jimmy Carter on Tuesday called for opening the Gaza Strip”s crossings in order to allow construction material necessary for the reconstruction of areas devastated in the latest Israeli war on Gaza.

 

Carter, addressing a press conference in front of the destroyed American school in Gaza city, said that Israel was treating the Gaza inhabitants like “animals”, and expressed astonishment at the vast destruction inflicted by the Israeli aggression on all public utilities in the Strip.

 

He said that inter-Palestinian reconciliation is the road towards ending the Palestinian people”s suffering and spreading peace.

 

Carter said that he was carrying a message from parents of the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and that he would meet with Hamas leaders and would ask them to convey this message to Shalit.

 

In a reception held by UNRWA in honor of Carter, he called for the establishment of a Palestinian state that would live alongside Israel.

 

He said that Israel should end its violations of Palestinian lands, recalling the suffering of Palestinian mothers who lost their sons as martyrs or prisoners. He mentioned in this regard that 11,000 Palestinians are being held in Israeli prisons and that they include 400 minors.

 

Carter reiterated his backing for a two-state solution as the basis for a lasting peace in the Middle East.