International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, 14 Apr 2008

Former US President Jimmy Carter arrived in Israel on Sunday to begin a controversial swing through the region that will also take him to Damascus for a meeting with Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, a move that has upset the US, Israel and even the Palestinian Authority.

Yesterday, Carter met with Israeli president and fellow Nobel prize laureate Shimon Peres, who told him the Mashaal meeting was a "severe mistake." He also conferred with Noam Schalit, who asked Carter to help advance a deal to free his son, Gilad, who has been held by Hamas for almost two years now. Carter promised to make it a focus of his encounter with Mashaal later this week in Syria.

Today, Carter visited Sderot and called the constant Palestinian rocket attacks on the town a "despicable crime." Most Israelis were already distrustful of Carter for suggesting in a recent book that Israel is an "apartheid state." Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak have all refused to meet with him.