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Israel not committed to two-state solution: Carter

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1 of 2. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter speaks during a news conference in Jerusalem October 22, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Ammar Awad

By Maayan Lubell

JERUSALEM | Mon Oct 22, 2012 2:35pm EDT

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter on Monday said the Israeli-Palestinian peace process had reached a crisis point and that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government was not pursuing a two-state solution.

"That policy of promoting a two-state solution seems to be abandoned now and we are deeply concerned about this move towards this catastrophic so-called one-state choice ... this is a major concern," Carter told a news conference.

Carter helped forge Israel's peace deal with Egypt in 1979, the first between the Jewish state and an Arab country but has been a strong critic of Israeli settlement policy in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

"Every (Israeli) prime minister that I have known has been a pursuer of the two-state solution and I don't know that (U.S. President Barack) Obama has found that Prime Minister Netanyahu has been willing to go that route," Carter added.

He spoke during a visit along with other members of "The Elders", a group of former world leaders, to Israel, the occupied West Bank and Egypt.

"All indications to us is that this two-state solution has basically been abandoned and we've had a moving forward towards a 'greater Israel' which I think is contrary to the two-state solution concept," Carter said.

Israeli-Palestinian peace talks collapsed in 2010 over settlement building in the West Bank, territory Israel captured in a 1967 Middle East war that Palestinians seek, with the Gaza Strip, for a future state, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Netanyahu has voiced support for a two-state solution, but has said a future Palestinian country must be demilitarized and accept an Israeli military presence along the Jordan River, its likely eastern frontier.

He has said Israel was willing to make "painful compromises" for peace that require giving up "parts of the ancestral Jewish homeland" but has balked at returning to lines that existed before the 1967 conflict.

Israel cites historical and Biblical links to the West Bank, which it calls Judea and Samaria.

(Writing by Ori Lewis; Editing by Michael Roddy)
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Israel
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Comments (7)
drdhesq wrote:
We’ve all known this for years.

Oct 22, 2012 2:36pm EDT  --  Report as abuse
fromthecenter wrote:
And they will call carter all kinds of names for speaking the truth again.

Oct 22, 2012 3:12pm EDT  --  Report as abuse
politicaljunkie wrote:
USA is the only country that stands between a 2 state solution, it is not in the interest of Israel to have a 2 state solution, the more this is prolonged the more aid flows from US. The sadest part is that USA being the world’s biggest democracy is supressing a whole race of people (palestinians)to being expunged from Palestine.
Take a hard long look at our democratic process and one would wonder if this is truly a democracy or a contrived one.
The next generation of americans will be more educated,informed and watch out you lobbyist your dollars will be put to test by young minds seeing through this mirage called democracy.

Oct 22, 2012 3:50pm EDT  --  Report as abuse
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