Former President Jimmy Carter said he feels "quite at ease" about meeting leaders of the genocidal Hamas terror group, because the organization is "essential to a future peace with Israel."

Carter, interviewed Saturday for ABC News' "This Week," also said he would oppose a U.S. Olympic boycott and hopes all countries will join in the Beijing games.

He spoke from Katmandu, Nepal, where observers from the Carter Center monitored an election that appeared likely to transform rule by royal dynasty into a democracy, with incomplete returns indicating former Maoist rebels were in a strong position.