A delegation including former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former Irish Prime Minister Mary Robinson visited the Gan Hamelch (Silwan) neighborhood Thursday morning, and condemned Israeli policies in the area. In a visit to a protest tent by Arabs, Carter said that he would continue to work to ensure that eastern Jerusalem become the capital of an Arab state that would he established in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. Carter said that “the occupation here and in Gaza are testimony to Israeli policies.”
Carter and Robinson, along with Indian women's rights activist Ela Bhatt, did not meet with any Jewish residents of the area. In response to a reporter's question, Carter said that Jews would be allowed to live in the neighborhood “only under Palestinian rule.”
