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'Just let me eat my waffle'
22/04/2008 14:04 - (SA)
Washington - Democratic White House contender Barack Obama could not hide his irritation on Monday when asked by a reporter what he thought about former president Jimmy Carter's meeting with Hamas last week.
"Why can't I just eat my waffle?" the Illinois senator said as he ate breakfast in Scranton, Pennsylvania, according to MSNBC television pictures.
Pressed again for an answer, he replied: "Just let me eat my waffle."
Obama, who is battling Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination, criticised Carter last week for seeking to meet with leaders of the Islamist movement, which he said was "a terrorist organisation".
He told a synagogue in Philadelphia that while it was legitimate to meet with the leaders of states such as Syria or Iran, even if they were hostile to Israel, "Hamas is not a state" and did not warrant such a move.
At a public meeting Sunday, Obama also noted the difficulty of negotiating a peace deal between the Israelis and Palestinians where one group representing Palestinians - Hamas, who run the Gaza Strip - refused to recognise Israel.
Carter said on Monday that Hamas had told him it would recognise Israel's right to live in peace if a deal is reached and approved by a Palestinian vote, after two meetings in Damascus with exiled Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal.
But hours after he spoke, Meshaal told a press conference in Damascus that Hamas would not recognise the Jewish state and would insist on the right of some 4.5 million Palestinian refugees to return to Israel.
- AFP
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US Elections Special Report
