The Carter Center in Atlanta has refused to confirm or deny reports that former President Jimmy Carter has offered to mediate between the Fatah faction of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas, which took over the Gaza Strip in a violent coup last month.Washington has maintained a policy of isolating Hamas and bolstering Abbas and his Fatah faction as moderates among Palestinians. Abbas is considered moderate because he publicly favors a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Palestinian News Agency Ma'an reported last week that Hamas leade Ismail Haniyeh met with Scott Custer, West Bank director of the Carter Center, in Haniyeh's office in the Gaza Strip. Custer told Haniyeh that Carter, a Democrat, was willing to mediate between the factions. Haniyeh approved Carter's offer, the report said.Custer would not respond in any way to the report when contacted by telephone and referred Cybercast News Service to the Carter Center headquarters at Emory University in Atlanta.Cybercast News Service was then instructed to contact Carter's spokeswoman Deanna Congileo by email. A list of questions was forwarded to her asking for verification about whether or not Custer had indeed met with Haniyeh; if the former president had offered to mediate between Hamas and Fatah; and where he stands on the Hamas-Fatah split and U.S. policy towards the two factions.After numerous phone calls and several email appeals over a number of days, Cybercast News Service finally received a reply from Congileo, saying in full: "Thank you for contacting us, but the Carter Center has no comment.Asked in a return correspondence if she would at least confirm that the meeting between Haniyeh and Custer took place, Congileo declined.
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