BEIRUT, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said on Friday he hoped President-elect Barack Obama would quickly engage in Middle East peace talks when he takes office.
Carter, president from 1977 to 1981, said Obama had told him he would “begin this effort early in his term”.
“The United States for the last eight years has been basically aloof from negotiations,” Carter said in an address at the American University of Beirut. “My hope is we will see a new movement towards a comprehensive peace in this region.” Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, Carter helped negotiate a 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.
Critics say President George W. Bush largely ignored Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking until belatedly launching talks in November 2007.
Carter has been a tough critic of Israeli policies in the Palestinian territories, angering the Israeli government with his 2006 book “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid”.
He also caused controversy earlier this year by meeting leaders of the Palestinian faction Hamas, which is listed as a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union.
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