Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, during a visit to Damascus on Tuesday, called for Israel to lift completely its blockade on the Gaza Strip.
Carter made the remarks in the forum of a delegation known as The Elders, who met with Syrian President Bashar Assad and Hamas leaders in Syria.
Despite the U.S. and the European Union's labeling of Hamas as a terrorist organization, The Elders met with exiled Hamas politburo leader Khaled Meshal, as Carter has done during previous regional visits.
Following their talks with Assad and Meshal, The Elders said people in the region have "very low expectations" that the current U.S.-led talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, which excluded Hamas, would succeed.
Carter, who has visited the Gaza Strip several times in recent years, did not accompany the rest of the delegation on their trip there Saturday.
Despite his absence from Gaza, Carter renewed calls for Israel to lift its blockade of the Hamas-governed Gaza Strip. Israel imposed the blockade in 2007 after Hamas wrestled control over the territory in a violent coup.
"The blockade is one of the most serious human rights violations on Earth and it must be lifted fully," said Carter from Syria.
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http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/carter-in-syria-israel-must-fully-lift-gaza-blockade-1.320044
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