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Jimmy Carter, the former US president, has said any future permanent Israeli-Palestinian agreement has to include Hamas, the Palestinian movement that controls the Gaza Strip.
Carter also told Al Jazeera's Riz Khan on Wednesday that US presidents were unable or unwilling to take on Israel's supporters in the US, but said he had high hopes for George Mitchell, the new US Middle East envoy.
The former US leader said there was "no way to have a permanent peace in the Middle East without the inclusion of Hamas".
"Hamas has got to be involved before peace can be concluded."
Carter said reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah, the faction led by Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, had been "objected to and obstructed by the US and Israel".
He hoped the new Obama administration would work to bring the Palestinian factions together.
The US government has branded Hamas as a "terrorist" group and Barack Obama, the new US president, has reiterated international demands that it recognize Israel, renounce "violence" and recognize previous peace agreements before it can sit at the negotiating table.
Abbas sacked a unity government led by Hamas in 2007, leading to Hamas's takeover of the Gaza Strip, while Abbas' Palestinian Authority remained in charge of the West Bank.
Carter also said Hamas had mainly kept to its truce agreement not to attack Israel.
The truce ended last December and was followed by a massive 22-day Israeli assault on Gaza that left more than 1,300 Palestinians dead.
PHOTO CAPTION
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter
Al-Jazeera
