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DUBLIN, Ireland—Former President Jimmy Carter accused the U.S., Israel and the European Union in June of seeking to divide the Palestinian people by reopening aid to President Mahmoud Abbas’ new government in the West Bank while denying the same to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

DUBLIN, Ireland—Former President Jimmy Carter accused the U.S., Israel and the European Union in June of seeking to divide the Palestinian people by reopening aid to President Mahmoud Abbas’ new government in the West Bank while denying the same to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who was address-
ing a human rights conference in Ireland, also said the Bush administration’s refusal to accept Hamas’ 2006 election victory was “criminal.”

Carter said Hamas, besides winning a fair and democratic mandate that should have entitled it to lead the Palestinian government, had proven itself to be far more organized in its political and military showdowns with Abbas’ moderate Fatah movement.

Hamas fighters routed Fatah in their violent takeover of the Gaza Strip early last month. The split prompted Abbas to dissolve the power-sharing government with his rivals in Hamas and set up a Fatah-led administration to govern the West Bank.

Carter said the consensus of the U.S., Israel and the EU to start funneling aid to Abbas’ new government in the West Bank but continue blocking Hamas in the Gaza Strip represented an “effort to divide Palestinians into two peoples. All efforts of the international community should be to reconcile the two, but there’s no effort from the outside to bring the two together,” he said.

The U.S. and European countries cut off the Hamas-
led government last year because of the Islamic militant group’s refusal to renounce violence and recognize Israel.

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