In op-ed, Jimmy Carter says the U.S. must recognize Palestine

Anwar Sadat, Jimmy Carter, and Menachem Begin at Camp David in September 1978. — (Image credit: Karl Schumacher/AFP/Getty Images)

Former President Jimmy Carter is urging the Obama administration to grant American diplomatic recognition to the state of Palestine before the president's term is over in January.

In an op-ed for The New York Times, Carter writes that Palestine, which already has diplomatic recognition from 137 countries, needs to achieve full United Nations membership. In 2009, Obama reaffirmed elements of the 1978 Camp David agreement, signed by Israel's Menachem Begin and Egypt's Anwar Sadat, which called for the "withdrawal of Israel armed forces from territories occupied" during the 1967 war. Obama called for a total freeze on settlements illegally constructed by Israel on Palestinian territory, and in 2011 said the borders of Israel and Palestine "should be based on the 1967 lines."

Carter argued that because Palestinians are being displaced and many live under Israeli military rule but do not vote in Israel's national elections while 600,000 Israeli settlers in Palestine have Israeli citizenship and the benefits of the country's laws, Israeli policy is "hastening a one-state reality that could destroy Israeli democracy and will result in intensifying international condemnation of Israel." He said he continues to support a two-state solution, and The Carter Center will soon host discussions between Israeli and Palestinian representatives "searching for an avenue toward peace." A resolution must be made that acknowledges the right of both Israel and Palestine to "live in peace and security," Carter said, as well as the demilitarization of the Palestinian state and a possible peacekeeping force under the U.N. Read Carter's entire op-ed at The New York Times.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.