Israeli government leaders shun Carter

Israel’s Shin Bet security service has not assisted in guarding the former president.

Chicago Tribune

SDEROT, Israel — A visit to Israel by Jimmy Carter, already under a cloud because of his planned meeting in Syria with the leader of Hamas, soured further Monday when a dispute erupted over the lack of Israeli secret service protection for the former president of the United States.

Shunned by Israeli government leaders, Carter, who is on a Middle East tour, visited the rocket-scarred border town of Sderot and called attacks on it by Palestinian militants in Gaza “a despicable crime” that he hoped a cease-fire would halt.

Carter’s planned talks with Hamas and a book he published in 2006, “Palestine: Peace not Apartheid,” which called Israeli policy in occupied Palestinian territories “a system of apartheid,” have caused official displeasure in Israel, and his efforts to meet Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and senior cabinet ministers were rebuffed.

Along with the official snub, Israel’s Shin Bet security service, which is overseen by Olmert’s office and normally helps protect visiting dignitaries, has not assisted U.S. Secret Service agents guarding Carter.

An Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, said that no request had been received for such protection, which he said was automatically extended to serving presidents or prime ministers, but not to former leaders.

“They didn’t request, so they didn’t receive,” the official said.

Carter’s delegation responded in a written statement that it had been told “unequivocally” by the lead agent of Carter’s Secret Service detail and the State Department Regional Security Officer that “an official request for assistance had been made” to the Israelis.

In Sderot, Carter was surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents, but none from the Shin Bet. Israeli police provided an escort and guarded the perimeter of sites Carter visited.

After viewing spent rockets piled in the back of the local police station, many marked with the dates and locations of where they had hit, Carter said he was “distressed” by the sight.

Militants from Hamas and other groups in the Gaza Strip have fired thousands of crude rockets in the past seven years, killing 13 people and injuring hundreds more.

Carter, who is expected to meet Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal in Damascus on Friday, said that he would not attempt to broker a cease-fire between the militant group and Israel. “I’m not in the negotiating business,” he said, but added that he did want to help nudge Hamas into peace diplomacy.

“Ultimately, there’s no doubt that Hamas has to be involved in the peace process,” Carter said, “and I hope that we can induce them to do so.”

In an interview with the Haaretz newspaper, Carter said he would use his meeting with Mashaal to check Hamas’ readiness to accept an Arab peace initiative, to work for the release of an Israeli soldier held in Gaza and ascertain the fate of two others seized by the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah.