State Department: Carter Meeting With Terrorists 'Not in the Interest of Peace'

[bijou]

NEW YORK —  Former President Jimmy Carter's upcoming meeting with senior officials of the Palestinian terror group Hamas is "not in the interest of peace," according to State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

FOX News confirmed today that Carter will travel to Syria next week for an unprecedented meeting with the senior leadership of Hamas. The State Department has designated Hamas a “foreign terrorist organization,” a stance McCormack reiterated today.

McCormack said that although the State Department would "provide support befitting a former President," Carter had been "counseled" earlier this week that such a meeting was not in the interest of U.S. foreign policy.

FOXNews.com first reported Tuesday on an item in the Arabic-language newspaper Al-Hayat that said Carter was preparing an unprecedented meeting with Khaled Meshal, the exiled head of Hamas who lives in Damascus.

McCormack once said of the prospect of meeting with Meshal, “That’s not something that we could possibly conceive of.”

Earlier today a senior Hamas official confirmed reports of the meeting, according to the Associated Press.

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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,348989,00.html