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Thursday, April 24, 2008
A friend defends Carter’s meeting with Hamas
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
My friend Tony Honein admires Jimmy Carter.
His family has attended the former president’s Sunday school class at Maranatha Baptist, Carter’s church in Plains. They’ve had photographs taken with Rosalynn and Jimmy. One of those pictures was prominently featured in the Honeins’ Christmas letter.
“He’s a hero of mine,” Honein said.
In Carter, Honein sees a leader who’s respected nationally and internationally. Even more appealing to Honein is that the Nobel Peace Prize winner grew up in, by many accounts, a podunk town.
“His humble background is an example of how great America is,” Honein wrote in an —mail, “and how the American Dream can truly be that of any hardworking person.”
The other day Honein and I discussed Carter’s eye-raising trip to the Middle East to meet Hamas rulers. I wanted his perspective. It’s a world view.
Honein grew up in Beirut and attended school there until the start of the civil war in Lebanon. He finished high school in France, then earned a marketing degree from Indiana University. He worked nearly two decades as an executive for an international tobacco company, logging time in several countries. Europe. Africa. Parts of the Middle East. He and his wife, Margaret, eventually moved to America.
Now, metro Atlanta is home.
The United States does not deal with Hamas - the Palestinian faction that controls the Gaza Strip - and regards it as a terror group. So do Europe and Israel. Carter’s unsolicited, freelance diplomacy drew sharp criticism from the international community and was rebuked by the Bush administration.
Honein, who runs LebaneseBooks.com, an online catalog that specializes in Middle Eastern topics, condoned it.
“I think it is a sad day when attempts to bridge differences between warring parties are vilified,” he said. “There is only one organization with whom we should never negotiate, but must pursue, defeat and bring to justice, and that is al-Qaida and bin Laden.”
In other words, somebody, some trusted leader from a world power, had to take the risk, to try dialogue. He or she may fail, as Carter apparently did in trying to gain concessions, but it’s worth it.
Diplomacy, by its very nature, requires dialogue twixt all parties, including enemies. It’s a basic tenet, no matter how powerful and principled those with a vested interest in negotiating pretend to be. Talk to everyone. It doesn’t mean you condone terrorist behavior or that you’re rewarding it. And if you can’t see beyond that, and (wrongly) consider Carter a grandstander, then bite on reality: With no dialogue, without Hamas at the table, there will be no justice, no peace, no political progress between the Palestinians and Israel.
“No one was under any illusion that a comprehensive peace in the Middle East would be achieved during President Carter’s visit,” Honein told me. “There should always be attempts at making peace.”
Someone needs to talk to Hamas.
The Badie Tour will resume next Thursday. Rick Badie’s column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. Contact him at 770-263-3875 or e-mail: rbadie@ajc.
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