It was so easy to blast former President Jimmy Carter for the naïve way in which he approached his headline making meeting with Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal last week in Damascus. And I did just that in print: click here.

Carter never understood the nuances, personalities and maddening patient creep of progress in the Middle East – while president or in writing two books on the subject, “The Blood Of Abraham” or “Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid.”

But I have to admit that in writing my piece, I had to wrestle with Carter’s key statement: Hamas is a factor in the Israeli-Palestinian relationship and eventually must be dealt with, so why wait to start talking?

I say that as someone who believes in dialogue with just about anyone. So if that’s the case, what about Hamas? I admit to remaining conflicted on some level, but rely heavily on three factors:

• Hamas couldn’t even suspend rocket attacks on Israeli civilians during Carter’s visit;

• Hamas didn’t have the courtesy to provide additional information on captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit (truly a prisoner of war, meaning Hamas must be pressed to allow observation visits by the International Red Cross);

• and Hamas has NEVER even agreed to Israel’s right to exist – the bar for all negotiations. The PLO did it in 1988 and then 1993. Then there’s the faulty comparisons from other violent liberation movements. But the IRA never tried to vanquish Great Britain, the African National Congress fought for democratic rule in South Africa (despite its Marxists elements) and the Kurdish PKK wants its own country, not all of Turkey.

Hamas, an unrepentant terrorist-sponsoring and inspiring group with not even a half-statesmen at the helm, is a different story. Until that changes, I say hold the line – but keep helping Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas improve living standards on the West Bank, showing Gaza Palestinians what they can gain if they kick Hamas out of office (if the Islamic fundamentalists ever allow another democratic election).

But what about you? Do you think it was worthy for Carter to at least try? Are the rest of us too obsessed with the conflict to see the value in such non-government efforts?

Nice start Neil. Good points too.