Carter: America can make Israel choose peace
Palestine-USA, Politics, 4/22/2002

ABC news yesterday said "the House of Representatives has passed a resolution condemning Yasser Arafat as a terrorist. The Senate has had the same thing before it, and senators have been quoted as saying they would like to go on record."

Meantime, former US President Jimmy Carter in an Op-Ed article in the NY Times yesterday said "In January 1996, with full support from Israel and responding to the invitation of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, the Carter Center helped to monitor a democratic election in the West Bank and Gaza, which was well organized, open and fair. In that election, 88 members were elected to the Palestinian National Authority, with Yasir Arafat as president. Legally and practically, the Palestinian people were encouraged to form their own government, with the expectation that they would soon have full sovereignty as a state."

"Ariel Sharon is a strong and forceful man and has never equivocated in his public declarations nor deviated from his ultimate purpose. His rejection of all peace agreements that included Israeli withdrawal from Arab lands, his invasion of Lebanon, his provocative visit to the Temple Mount, the destruction of villages and homes, the arrests of thousands of Palestinians and his open defiance of President George W. Bush's demand that he comply with international law have all been orchestrated to accomplish his ultimate goals: to establish Israeli settlements as widely as possible throughout occupied territories and to deny Palestinians a cohesive political existence," Carter said.

Carter urged for the US to force a peace settlement that will be seen as fair by a majority of people on both sides of this conflict.

"There are two existing factors that offer success to United States persuasion. One is the legal requirement that American weapons are to be used by Israel only for defensive purposes, a premise certainly being violated in the recent destruction of Jenin and other villages. Richard Nixon imposed this requirement to stop Ariel Sharon and Israel's military advance into Egypt in the 1973 war, and I used the same demand to deter Israeli attacks on Lebanon in 1979. (A full invasion was launched by Ariel Sharon after I left office). The other persuasive factor is approximately $10 million daily in American aid to Israel. President George Bush Sr. threatened this assistance in 1992 to prevent the building of Israeli settlements between Jerusalem and Bethlehem," Carter wrote.

Carter said "I understand the extreme political sensitivity in America of using persuasion on the Israelis, but it is important to remember that none of the actions toward peace would involve an encroachment on the sovereign territory of Israel. They all involve lands of the Egyptians, Lebanese and Palestinians, as recognized by international law."

Previous Stories:
  Moussa presses for neutral mediator in Middle East   (4/20/2002)
  Multinational force can help restore trust between Israelis, Palestinians, UN envoy says   (4/20/2002)
  US continues obstruction of effective international law; multinational force concept made meaningless   (4/19/2002)
  Two UN envoys tell of 'horrific' devastation in Jenin camp   (4/19/2002)
  UK parliamentarian: Sharon is a 'war criminal'   (4/19/2002)
  Amnesty International reiterates calls for international inquiry of Israel   (4/19/2002)
  UN rights body condemns Israel for 'mass killings'   (4/16/2002)
  The Gordian Knot of US-Middle East policy   (5/11/1998)

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