April 21 (Bloomberg) -- Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who helped broker peace between Egypt and Israel in 1978, said that Israel's enemy Hamas may accept, under certain circumstances, the Jewish state's right to exist.

Hamas leaders told Carter that the group would accept a peace agreement negotiated by the leader of the rival Fatah group, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, on condition that the agreement is submitted to the Palestinian people for approval, the former president said in a speech in Jerusalem.

``Hamas leaders said they would accept a Palestinian state on the 1967 border and the right of Israel to live as a neighbor, provided the agreement was submitted to the Palestinian people for overall approval,'' Carter said.

Hamas later said it wouldn't necessarily accept the results of a peace referendum, the Associated Press reported, and Hamas leader Khalid Mashaal said from Damascus the group won't recognize Israel. Mashaal offered Israel a 10-year truce if it withdraws from lands seized in 1967, AP added.

The Islamic group which seized control of the Gaza Strip in June is sworn to Israel's destruction, and launches regular rocket attacks against Israeli towns, killing and maiming citizens. Israel has imposed a military and economic blockade on Gaza in a bid to stop the rockets and undermine Hamas rule, and has fired missiles into Gaza aimed at those launching rockets and at terrorist leaders, sometimes inadvertently killing or injuring citizens.

`Actions, Words'

The Bush administration said it didn't support Carter's meeting with a terrorist organization and was skeptical about what it accomplished. ``You have to look at public comments and actions. Actions speak louder than words,'' White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters traveling with President George W. Bush today on Air Force One to New Orleans.

Abbas, who is in control of the West Bank, renewed negotiations with Israel in December about a framework peace agreement that Bush wants by the end of the year. The two Palestinian factions don't recognize each other's right to rule.

A cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas is imminent, Ahmed Yousef, a spokesman for the Islamic organization said today. Hamas sent its proposals to Israel and is now awaiting a response.

``We expect a real development in this regard in the coming few days,'' Yousef said. Carter said that Hamas had rejected his proposal for a 30-day unilateral cease-fire.

Syria's Role

Syria believes that nearly all its differences with Israel have been resolved and that talks ``just need to be reconvened,'' Carter said in Jerusalem after meeting with Syrian officials in Damascus. Syria is eager that the U.S. play a ``strong role'' in talks with Israel, while in the meantime, the U.S. is opposing talks, Carter said.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad confirmed his country exchanged messages with Israel via third parties about the possibility of resuming peace talks, Syria's state-run SANA news service reported today. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told the daily Yediot Ahronot last week that the two countries, which failed to sign a peace accord after the Six-Day war in 1967, clarified what they expect from a potential peace accord. Each side now understands what the other wants, Olmert said.

Carter said that, while he is glad that Bush is committed to reaching a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, there is a general feeling that no progress is being made of any significance in the talks.

`Just Isn't Working'

The Israeli-U.S. strategy of excluding Syria and Hamas from peace negotiations ``just isn't working,'' and they would have to be involved in order to make progress, Carter said.

Hamas leaders said that they are making progress in Egyptian-mediated talks about a prisoner exchange that would include Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was captured by Palestinian gunmen in June 2006. Hamas has agreed to allow Shalit to send a letter to his parents, Carter said.

Carter's speech came after meeting with exiled Hamas leader Mashaal in Damascus and other Hamas officials in Cairo over the past week.

By meeting with Hamas officials, Carter went against the policy of the Bush administration, which says Hamas must be sidelined until it recognizes Israel and ends violence, and ignored Israeli objections. The U.S. considers the group a terrorist organization.

Hamas won 2006 Palestinian parliamentary elections and ousted forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas from the Gaza Strip in June last year. Abbas heads the Fatah faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization and controls the West Bank.

`Obstacle to Peace'

During a visit to Israel on April 11, U.S. Secretary of StateCondoleezza Rice told reporters that she found it ``hard to understand what is to be gained by having discussions with Hamas when Hamas is, in fact, an obstacle to peace.''

Fifty members of the U.S. Congress, both Democrats and Republicans, wrote an appeal to Carter on April 14 not to meet with Hamas.

In Carter's visit to Israel, President Shimon Peres told him it was a ``mistake'' to meet with Hamas. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert declined to receive the former U.S. leader. Israel barred Carter from crossing into the Gaza Strip.

Since his 1977-1981 presidency, Carter has occasionally embarked on private diplomacy. In 1994, he visited Pyongyang and persuaded North Korea to freeze its nuclear program. The agreement collapsed when the CIA discovered, in 2002, that North Korea ran a covert uranium-enrichment program. Carter also visited U.S. adversaries Iraq, when it was ruled by Saddam Hussein, and Cuba.

Egypt navigates a delicate path with Hamas: it has called for Israel to lift a trade and travel blockade of the Gaza Strip, while declining to open its own border to Gazans, which has been forcibly breached in the past. Instead, Egypt has tried to mediate in the Abbas-Hamas dispute.

Carter won the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize for promoting peaceful solutions to conflicts and social and economic justice.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alisa Odenheimer in Jerusalem at aodenheimer@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 21, 2008 12:43 EDT