Former US president to meet Hamas

Jimmy Carter is drawing criticism from the Bush administration over his meeting Hamas [AFP]

Former US president Jimmy Carter has drawn fire from the Bush administration, a US presidential hopeful and the Israeli government over his planned meeting in Damascus with Hamas political chief Khaled Meshaal.

True to his approach of promoting dialogue, Carter made it clear that Hamas, labelled as a terrorist group by the US and Israel, should be included in any peace settlement in the Middle East.

Carter, insisited, though, that he is not meeting Hamas as a negotiator, but said he would do his best to get the group to agree to a peaceful resolution in the region.

So without a mandate from the US government – can the former president – who successfully oversaw peace between Israel and Egypt in 1979, make a breakthrough?

Inside Story, with presenter Imran Garda, previews the Carter-Meshaal meeting.

Watch part one of this episode of Inside Story on YouTube

Watch part two of this episode of Inside Story on YouTube

This episode of Inside Story aired on Thursday, April 17, 2008 at 17:30 GMT