Editorial: Carter’s fantasy land
Herald Staff Sunday, December 04, 2016
Former President Jimmy Carter, likely the most inept figure ever to occupy the Oval Office, is as free with his advice as ever, this time making one more pitch for President Obama to do the unthinkable — unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state.
Yes, it’s simply not enough that in the last “land for peace” effort Israel gave up Gaza, withdrawing each and every Israeli settler from the land only to have it overrun by Hamas terrorists who use it as a launching pad for rockets into southern Israel.
And last Sunday Israeli military forces killed four ISIS terrorists attempting to make their way into the Golan Heights — in the area where the borders of Israel, Jordan and Syria meet.
So, of course, Carter would think this is the perfect time for Obama to destroy what remains of his foreign policy reputation by stabbing Israel in the back on his way out the door.
“I am convinced that the United States can still shape the future of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict before a change in presidents, but time is very short,” Carter wrote in an op-ed column in The New York Times. “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 ... and help it achieve full United Nations membership.”
There have, of course, been rumors ever since the election result was clear that Obama might do something on his way out the door — a parting shot at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But one doesn’t have to love Netanyahu to realize that putting the Middle East’s only democracy at further risk isn’t exactly a good game plan.
Carter continues to occupy some sort of parallel universe where simply declaring that the two-state solution U.S. and Israeli governments have long sought is a fait accompli — that wishing it will make it so. At least he acknowledges that “security guarantees for both Israel and Palestine are imperative and the [U.N.] resolution must acknowledge the right of both the states of Israel and Palestine to live in peace and security.”
Again, because a U.N. resolution will be the magic wand that solves it all.
Or perhaps Carter simply wants Obama to bump him out of last place on the presidential honor roll.
Herald Staff Sunday, December 04, 2016
Former President Jimmy Carter, likely the most inept figure ever to occupy the Oval Office, is as free with his advice as ever, this time making one more pitch for President Obama to do the unthinkable — unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state.
Yes, it’s simply not enough that in the last “land for peace” effort Israel gave up Gaza, withdrawing each and every Israeli settler from the land only to have it overrun by Hamas terrorists who use it as a launching pad for rockets into southern Israel.
And last Sunday Israeli military forces killed four ISIS terrorists attempting to make their way into the Golan Heights — in the area where the borders of Israel, Jordan and Syria meet.
So, of course, Carter would think this is the perfect time for Obama to destroy what remains of his foreign policy reputation by stabbing Israel in the back on his way out the door.
“I am convinced that the United States can still shape the future of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict before a change in presidents, but time is very short,” Carter wrote in an op-ed column in The New York Times. “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 ... and help it achieve full United Nations membership.”
There have, of course, been rumors ever since the election result was clear that Obama might do something on his way out the door — a parting shot at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But one doesn’t have to love Netanyahu to realize that putting the Middle East’s only democracy at further risk isn’t exactly a good game plan.
Carter continues to occupy some sort of parallel universe where simply declaring that the two-state solution U.S. and Israeli governments have long sought is a fait accompli — that wishing it will make it so. At least he acknowledges that “security guarantees for both Israel and Palestine are imperative and the [U.N.] resolution must acknowledge the right of both the states of Israel and Palestine to live in peace and security.”
Again, because a U.N. resolution will be the magic wand that solves it all.
Or perhaps Carter simply wants Obama to bump him out of last place on the presidential honor roll.
