Carter: Trump's Palestine Policy 'Catastrophic'
WEST BANK (Dispatches) – Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter has warned about the "catastrophic” consequences of abandoning the two-state solution to the Zionist-Palestinian conflict.
The two-state solution "is being overtaken by a one-state reality which will have dire consequences for Israel in the long-term," Carter said in a statement to the United Nations Security Council read by former U.S. ambassador Richard Murphy.
Referring to President Donald Trump’s decision in December to recognize al-Quds as the capital of the Zionist regime, Carter in the statement read by Murphy insisted that the two-state solution "must be anchored on 1967 borders with agreed upon adjustments and with Jerusalem [al-Quds] as the capital for both Israelis and Palestinians."
Carter’s statement came after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas accused the Trump administration of abdicating its commitment to a peace settlement and an independent Palestinian state.
In an angry address to the UN Security Council on Tuesday, Abbas hinted that Washington under Trump was by no stretch of imagination an honest peace broker in the Zionist-Palestinian conflict.
He appealed instead to the United Nations, and called for an international peace conference this year under U.N., not American, sponsorship.
"We met with the president of the United States, Mr. Donald Trump, four times in 2017, and we have expressed our absolute readiness to reach a historic agreement,” Abbas said.
"Yet this administration has not clarified its position,” Abbas said.
"Is it a two-state solution, or one state?" he asked.
Carter warned in the statement of mounting tensions in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories since Trump took office.
The occupied territory "is teetering on the brink of a humanitarian disaster", Murphy read from Cater's statement to the UN Security Council.
The former president warned that another war in the Hamas-controlled territory of the Gaza Strip is "a real possibility — and the consequences would be catastrophic."
The regime's military frequently bombs Gaza, with civilians being the main target of such attacks.
The two-state solution "is being overtaken by a one-state reality which will have dire consequences for Israel in the long-term," Carter said in a statement to the United Nations Security Council read by former U.S. ambassador Richard Murphy.
Referring to President Donald Trump’s decision in December to recognize al-Quds as the capital of the Zionist regime, Carter in the statement read by Murphy insisted that the two-state solution "must be anchored on 1967 borders with agreed upon adjustments and with Jerusalem [al-Quds] as the capital for both Israelis and Palestinians."
Carter’s statement came after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas accused the Trump administration of abdicating its commitment to a peace settlement and an independent Palestinian state.
In an angry address to the UN Security Council on Tuesday, Abbas hinted that Washington under Trump was by no stretch of imagination an honest peace broker in the Zionist-Palestinian conflict.
He appealed instead to the United Nations, and called for an international peace conference this year under U.N., not American, sponsorship.
"We met with the president of the United States, Mr. Donald Trump, four times in 2017, and we have expressed our absolute readiness to reach a historic agreement,” Abbas said.
"Yet this administration has not clarified its position,” Abbas said.
"Is it a two-state solution, or one state?" he asked.
Carter warned in the statement of mounting tensions in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories since Trump took office.
The occupied territory "is teetering on the brink of a humanitarian disaster", Murphy read from Cater's statement to the UN Security Council.
The former president warned that another war in the Hamas-controlled territory of the Gaza Strip is "a real possibility — and the consequences would be catastrophic."
The regime's military frequently bombs Gaza, with civilians being the main target of such attacks.