Jimmy Carter has called on outgoing U.S. President Barack Obama to extend formal recognition to a currently non-existent State of Palestine. The former one term President made the call in an op-ed contribution in yesterday’s New York Times.
In his exact words, “The simple but vital step this administration must take before its term expires on Jan. 20 is to grant American diplomatic recognition to the state of Palestine.”
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The call should come as a surprise to no one. In the decades since leaving office, the 92 year old has made it very clear who he blames for the conflict in the Middle East. Jimmy Carter basically blames Israel for everything, while conveniently ignoring the constant acts of terrorism committed by groups such as Hamas which declare their intent to never make peace with it.
Jimmy Carter likes to blame the victim. Israel is really the cause of terrorism and Antisemitism in the world. It has no right to defend itself and is guilty of war crimes for retaliating against Hamas after each time the terrorist group launched missiles at civilian targets in Israel.
This is kind of like arresting a woman for assault after she fought off the man who tried to rape her while ignoring his crime.
This is the man who in 2006 published a book titled “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.” The title says it all. We are still waiting for the sequel, “Israel is to Blame for Everything and if it Were Not for Zionism There Would Be Peace On Earth By Now.”
As Jimmy Carter put it, there are about 600, 000 Israeli “settlers in Palestine” and “Israel is building more and more settlements, displacing Palestinians and entrenching its occupation of Palestinian lands.” By using such hyperbole, Carter revealed his anti-Israel bias and weakened his own argument.
The former President then tried to cover himself by claiming to be concerned with Israel’s future as a democratic state. Sorry Mr. Carter, but you didn’t fool anyone.
Israel’s leaders, including Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, have already conceded that there will be an independent Palestinian State. The only issue is on what terms.
Even if one takes for granted that Israel will need to withdraw the settlements, this must be accomplished at the negotiation table. And any final status agreement will be difficult to reach as long as Hamas sits in control of Gaza.
Should the United States take the drastic measure of recognizing Palestine as an independent nation before any final agreement is made, it will lose any ability that it may have to act as an honest intermediary for the peace process. Such a step would, in effect, declare that America has taken one side over the other. It would be a declaration that the American government, and people, see Israel as the aggressor and the occupier of another nation’s land. Such a step would be a fait accompli in the Palestinians attempts to force a unilateral solution.
Jimmy Carter knows this. Jimmy Carter wants this. Jimmy Carter is not a fair and objective independent observer here. He is an advocate for one side over the other.
