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Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has sparked an outcry of protest from Israeli and American officials for his decision to meet with Hamas leaders during a week-long visit to the Middle East. Although he received a cold welcoming in Israel in recent days, he was warmly received by Egyptian officials and a large supportive audience during a speech at the American University in Cairo late Thursday.

美国前总统卡特决定在为期一个星期的中东之行中会晤哈玛斯领导人招致以色列和美国官员的一片抗议。尽管本星期早些时候，卡特在以色列受到冷冰冰的接待，但他在埃及受到热烈的欢迎。星期四晚上卡特在开罗的美利坚大学发表演说的时候，听众大都表示支持他。

Mr. Carter spoke¹ to an audience of at least 1,000 people at the American University in Cairo.

卡特在开罗的美利坚大学发表演说，听众至少有一千人。

Most members of the audience made it clear that they saw him as breaking barriers by holding talks with Hamas.

大部分听众表示，卡特跟哈玛斯领导人举行会谈是一种破除障碍的行动。

Hamas, which won the Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006 and has ruled the Gaza Strip since it seized power there in June, is labeled a terrorist organization by the United States.

哈玛斯在2006年赢得巴勒斯坦议会选举，并从去年6月夺取加沙地带权力之后一直统治著加沙。美国认定哈玛斯是一个恐怖主义组织。

But after a three-hour long talk with Hamas officials earlier in the day and photos circulating of the ex-US president being embraced by a Hamas official, Mr. Carter seemed to have whole-hearted support by the mostly Arab audience he spoke to.

但是，在跟哈玛斯官员举行了三个小时的会谈，以及卡特前总统受到一个哈玛斯官员拥抱的照片流传开来之后，卡特似乎受到了大部分是阿拉伯人的听众的全心支持。

Mr. Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who brokered² the historic peace agreement between Egypt and Israel three decades ago, strongly defended his reasons for meeting with Hamas.

卡特是诺贝尔和平奖得主。三十年前经过他的斡旋，埃及和以色列达成了历史性的和平协议。卡特为跟哈玛斯领导人会晤的理由做出了强烈的辩护。

"I don't think anyone would doubt that in order to have peace in the Holy Land you have to have involved Hamas, which won the election as you know in January 2006," said Jimmy Carter. "Got 44 per cent of the votes, majority of parliament members. They have to be involved in some way in the final peace agreement."

卡特说：“我不认为有谁怀疑，为了在圣地达成和平，就必须让哈玛斯参与。大家知道，哈玛斯在2006年1月赢得了选举，得到44%的选票，以及大部分的议会席位。他们必须以某种方式参与最终的和平协议。”

During his visit to Israel early this week all of the country's senior political leaders except for ceremonial President Shimon Peres declined to meet with Mr. Carter.

在他本星期早些时候访问以色列期间，除了没有实权的总统佩雷斯之外，以色列政界大部分高级领导人都拒绝跟卡特会晤。

Israeli officials also rejected Mr. Carter's request to visit the Gaza Strip, which is governed by Hamas but whose border is controlled by Israel.

以色列官员也拒绝准许卡特前往加沙地带访问的要求。加沙地带的政府在哈玛斯控制之下，但是，加沙的边境是以色列控制的。

Mr. Carter's speech late Thursday in Cairo comes just one day after an Israeli air strike killed 21 people in the Gaza Strip.

在卡特星期四晚上在开罗发表演说之前的一天，以色列在加沙进行空袭，导致21人死亡。

"My hope is that there will be no more rockets coming out of Gaza and that was my primary request to Hamas leaders and I hope they will comply," said Carter. "And if they do comply my hope is that Israel will not launch any more attacks as they did yesterday within which I think 21 people died. If that conflict can stop then I will be quite pleased. I am not blaming one side or another. But any act, any act by Israelis or Palestinians that causes deaths of innocent civilians³ in my opinion, in my definition is an act of terrorism."

卡特说：“我希望，加沙地带不会再有火箭发射出来。这是我对哈玛斯的领导人的主要要求。我希望他们会遵守我的要求。假如他们遵守我的要求，我希望以色列不会再像昨天一样进行空袭。据我所知，昨天的空袭造成21人死亡。假如这种冲突可以停止的话，我会非常高兴。我没有责备任何一方。但是，任何一种行动，无论是以色列的还是巴勒斯坦人的，假如导致无辜平民死亡，按照我的定义来说就是恐怖主义。”

The former U.S. president explained that he is not a mediator⁴ between any two parties nor is he representing the U.S.government during this trip. Despite his unofficial tour of the region, Mr.Carter met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Egypt's intelligence chief Omar Suleiman. He has planned meetings in Damascus Friday with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad as well as Hamas' top leader Khaled Meshaal.

这位前美国总统解释说，他现在不是任何两方的调停人，他在中东之行期间也不代表美国政府。尽管他对中东地区的这次访问是非官方的，卡特还是会晤了埃及总统穆巴拉克，以及埃及情报部门总监苏莱曼。他计划星期五在大马士革会晤叙利亚总统阿萨德，以及哈玛斯领袖哈利德.迈沙阿勒。