(Xinhua) -- Visiting former U.S. President Jimmy Carter met with exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in Damascus on Friday and discussed the peace efforts in the region. The talks between Carter and Meshaal focused on three basic topics, namely the fate of Israeli captive Gilad Shalit, the situation in Gaza and the lift of the siege there, deputy chief ofthe exiled Hamas politburo Moussa Abu Marzouk told reporters. The policy of Hamas was not to make any contact with the Israelis, but the movement did not reject negotiation with Israel through intermediaries, Abu Marzouk said. The issue of the Israeli captive Shalit could be discussed through indirect channels, he added.
Carter, who arrived here on Friday, has already held talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
On Thursday he held talks with a delegation of Hamas in Cairo after Israel prevented him from entering Gaza to meet Hamas officials. The talks focused on the deteriorating situation in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and the stalled Mideast peace process, as well as the possibility of lifting the blockade on Gaza and reaching a comprehensive truce between the Palestinians and Israelis.
The White House immediately rebuked the meeting, criticizing that "we do not think that meeting was useful. As we can all see by the recent violence in Gaza, Hamas is a terrorist organization." "The president (George W. Bush) believes that if ex-president Carter wants to go, that he is doing so in his own private capacity, as a private citizen, he is not representing the United States," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.