News Brief20:27 PM

(IsraelNN.com) Palestinian Authority Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) was cautious with his words when responding to reporters' requests for a comment after former US President Jimmy Carter left the region this week. Abbas said Carter made an effort to convince the Hamas terror organization to tread the path of peace, but failed. "He urged Hamas to accept a two-state solution and accept past [PA] agreements with Israel, but unfortunately he failed to convince them and his visit did not end up with positive results," he said.

Carter also failed to obtain any new information about kidnapped IDF reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, abducted by Hizbullah in July 2006, nor did he succeed in convincing Mashaal to free IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit, whom his own operatives kidnapped in June 2006.

Despite explicit requests by the US State Department not to meet with Hamas officials, Carter held talks with the terror group's Damascus-based politburo chief over the weekend as well as other senior Hamas officials, in direct violation of American foreign policy.