Carter: Only a Free Palestine Can Stop Israeli 'Catastrophe'

Israel faces "catastrophe" unless it revives the peace process and works toward the establishment of an independent Palestine, says Jimmy Carter. In an interview with the AP, the former president and Nobel laureate says the growing number of Arabs in the Holy Land means that only a two-state solution can preserve a Jewish state.

For Carter, a one-state scenario leaves Israel with only three options, none of them palatable: expelling Palestinians in a form of "ethnic cleansing," depriving them of voting rights à la "apartheid," or else ceding majority rule to them. Carter's use of such harsh terms is not new; in 2006, he incited controversy for comparing Israel's treatment of Arabs to South African white rule.
(More Jimmy Carter stories.)