Carter: Palestinians seriously weighing one-state solution

How about if the Carter Institute uses its funds to begin a resettlement program for so-called Palis in Plains, GA and cajoles UNWRA into funding educational programs for them in the USA that will teach them to grow peanuts? Carter and his Democrat Pals should be happy to get an extra 3 Million potential voters who can then join in the Obama Nation.

As the settlements expand, and expand they do, the chances of a two state solution diminish. I have it in mind--and please correct me if I am wrong--that Israel wants to remain a Jewish dominated state, and that is hard to do if there is only one state because of all those Palestinians hanging around (and having to be controlled by the dominant Jewish culture). With a two state solution, Israel could push all those "undesirables" into the second (Palestinian) state. Of course that second state wouldn't have to be too plush--just a place to house the arabs after all. So why does israel do so much to undermine the two state solution? Any explanations?

One state solution? Maybe, but it takes two to tango. The so-called one-state solution would be a terrible blow to all those who thought that the palestinians were able to build a future for themselves. And if they have to go that way wouldn't make more sense for them to merge with other arabs? How about a one state solution with Jordan?

It would be nice to have a two state solution. Since there is not much left of the palistinian territories, it is starting to look like the only possible solution is a one state solution with equal rights for everybody. What is going on right now can't go on for ever.

...because the former US President who brokered the historic peace treaty between Israel and Egypt spoke the obvious? That says far more about you than it does about President Carter, Royalty in Israel according to Haaretz.

It doesn't want two states and according to most posters here it doesn't want one state. The Palestinians aren't leaving their land. Get used to it. So if you won't accept two states and you won't accept one state, I guess you'll have to leave.

Israel has had over six decades to give the Palestinians their state. At this point two states aren't possible, given the way Israel has carved up the west bank and populated it with settlers. So it will have to be a single state. And the world will never allow Israel to become South Africa, so it will have to learn to accept its non-Jewish citizens as equals, or leave - which is probably what a lot of the Ashkenazi Jews will do.

Jews & Palestinians, religiously, culturally, linguistically different, in a bi-national state? Let's look at some recent models of bi-national states that imploded: Yugoslavia where the Orthodox Serbs slaughtered the Catholic Croats and Muslim Bosnians in "revenge" for the carnage the Croats and Bosnians visited upon the Serbs in WW2. Or Czechoslovakia, which is no more, as the Czechs and Slovaks couldn't get along. Now peaceful Belgium is coming apart along ethno-national lines. And in the Middle East, not a single bi-national state exists: Just Arab nationalists subjugating non-Arabs (Kurds, Assyrians, Copts, Berbers). A bi-national state is no solution, just the start of a bloody civil war that would leave tens or hundreds of thousands dead "west of the Jordan River." No thanks!

On the face of it this sounds like a bluff to get Israel to seriously consider a two-state solution. The sad fact is that neither side is really interested in peace because both sides believe that if they can just stall long enough they can have it all. Worse yet, you already have a situation where the worst elements of both populations are breeding like rabbits. This would only aggravate that situation since both sides would try to achieve permanent majority status by over-breeding.

The Arab nations dont want 1 state. Proplem between Israel and Pal take away the people fighting corruption and poor living conditions. Stands up straight Pres Carter you have been used again

"Palestinians in the West Bank live under Israeli rule but have no vote - not even after 40 years." Born free, I live on a planet called, "Earth." We also have a West Bank on our planet. We also have a Jimmy Carter and a people called, "Palestinians" living in the West Bank on our planet. What a strange coincidence! The difference is, on my planet, the Palestinians held elections which Jimmy Carter said were free and fair. What's the name of YOUR planet?

Then demand equal rights for everything, Israel will no longer be consider a Jewish state. This would make more sense now,since Israel is stealing more land.Palestinians can demand the same rights as Jews.

""Increasingly, desperate Palestinians see little prospect of their plight being alleviated," They reject a two-state solution. There's no way in hell Israel will entertain a one-state solution. When several decades go by, and they "desperately see little prospect of their plight for a one state solution being alleviated," maybe they'll finally accept a state of their own, but not on 100% of the territories. If they want 100% Jew-free territory, they need to compromise on the extent of the territory upon which their state will be established. It's a shame the Palestinians reject a state every time they have the opportunity to establish one -- then they blame everyone else for their, "plight of desperation."

I mean honestly, will somebody please tell this crackpot that nobody cares about his opinion. He is a disgrace to the title of "President of the United States".

Palestinians in the West Bank live under Israeli rule but have no vote - not even after 40 years. Israel cannot claim to be a democracy unless it gives everyone within its borders a vote. If the West Bank is not within the borders of Israel then settlements there are a crime. Votes for all! Yes, a single state!

Sharing and tolerance is simply not an option for them.

The Pal covenant,Arafat,Hamas all say the same thing. It just a question of how many dhimmis would be allowed to live there and how many killed or ethnically cleansed.

Isn't there a US law regulating citizens' interference in the country's foreign relations? OK. As a former President he can certainly express his opinions. But in this situation , he seems to be making Palestinian policy as much as opining about it. Maybe he should register as a lobbyist-agent for a foreign country. His role and position would then be perfectly legal. Unless , of course, he is but doing President Obama's bidding ! Now THAT would be news.

What Carter is saying is not anything new. Of course they want one state eventually their population will be more than that of the Jewish population and it will make them a majority in the knesset... Jimmy Carter has to be about the dumbest man I have ever seen. He has become deranged and proves day in and day out he knows nothing.

a single state from the Mediterranean Ocean to the River Jordan would have a better chance to thrive economically.

Declare a state within the next 12 months regardless of the state of the neogotiations. The Israelis cannot have the veto power especially that almost every country on the face of this planet will immediately acknowledge it and those who don't will eventually do including Israel. If the Palestinians wait for 24 months, the U.S. will be in the middle of a presidention election and will not be in the mood to acknowledge it.

state with these "gentlemen". We are tired of being bombed, shot, murdered, forcibly converted to islam, spoiled etc. As far as we are concerned they can go to hell where they belong.

Why are Palestinian desires paramount over anything Israel has to say? There has been and endless flow of maximalist demands from the over indulged Palestinians, including ALL of Jerusalem. Palestinian fantasy and whims should never direct Israeli policy.

Palestinians alone should decide their future, but I would support either a one or two state solution. Unfortunately for the short-term, a one state solution will subject the Palestinians to more oppression by Israeli leaders and settlers. Palestinians will not be given equality. More land will be taken by settlers and travel restrictions will persist. That should bring more world pressure for justice within Israel. The two state solution gives the Palestinians more immediate relief. However if Israel keeps the settlements, the exclusive road system built for settlers and military occupation of the Jericho valley, then a two state solution is meaningless. Israel must withdraw fully from the West Bank and grant full independence to the West Bank and Gaza with travel allowed between the West Bank and Gaza.

Provided the Pals move away from the West Bank to Jordan, Syria, Gaza, etc. Since that won't happen, I disagree with #2, it's not the joke of the day but the joke of the millenium.

Ex Pres Carter, do all a favor, shut up , go home, chew on some peanuts and enjoy the $$$$ you getting from the arabs.

And who is going to enforce this one state solution, you Jimmah?

I wonder how many barrels of oil it took for him to find that out? The man is actually threatening that the Palestinians "might consider" a one state solution. That man was President of the US?

Judith, If you didn't know already, one of the ideas proposed by the "other Zionists", namely the Prez of Hebrew University in Mandatory Palestine/Land of Israel, Henrietta Szold, Martin Buber, and other like minded people sought a Bi-National State. They even formed the Ichud Party that promoted the idea. That was in 1942 at the same time when the Biltmore Platform was suggested creating a Jewish State in . . . by B-G and rest of the Official Zionists. If Benny Morris's theory is correct, he was doing it, by expelling Palestinian Arabs from their homes until he, as Mr. Morris says, he had a case of cold feet. Heck, if he was serious about the Deir Yassin thing he could have done more to the Irgun, but he did "doth protest too much methinks". The Anglophones and the Quebecois have an uneasy union, so do the Belgians, and Cyprus proved to be a lost cause. Gee Whiz, Ghandi couldn't get Nehru and Ali Jinna to unite, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia are no longer, so . . .

They voted overwhelmingly for him TWICE, and now have conveniently forgotten this as they support his shadow, Obama.

They can consider it all they want. Is that supposed to be a threat? So if the Palestinians decide they want a "one state solution," why does that matter to Israel? And what difference is that from their stance from the past 60 years, they've wanted one all along. Come full circle. Just remember, peace doesn't come for free. Maybe they should try to get entebbe, there they can create their one state solution. Otherwise they'll just have to continue negotiating for peace with Israel. Something they wouldn't have to do if they just would have accepted Israel in 1948.

off from the rest of the Mandate to be the Arab area with the area to the West of the Jordan to be the Jewish area. With Jews being in control of the area to the West of the Jordan no matter what their number. See Churchill and the Jews by Martin Gilbert. Interesting to see the Arabs are finally coming around to the idea. All they need to accept is Jewish Control and we are back to Churchill's original idea.

The stall is all on the part of the right wing government Israel voted into office. Its chickens are now coming home to roost, or is it turkeys? The turkeys are in the Knesset and in the US Congress, as usual. As we wait for the other shoe to drop from the White House. Carter is most dismally, bleakly correct! President Obama, are you listening? Sanctions and boycott!

nah - let the arabs keep fighting! it takes their minds off us.

Gaza is not a ghetto. Jews were once force to live in closed areas. That was a ghetto. The Arabs in Gaza were never forced to live in that tiny area. It may be no rosegarden, but that still doesn't make it a ghetto. It is a shame that an Israeli (Jewish) newspaper got lured into using a metaphore, as elswhere in the world is practised, to make a baseless comparison between Jewish suffering in the past and current Arab suffering, with the sole purpose to emphasize how bad we (Jews/Israelis) are.

Palestinians already have their one state which is Jordan with 80% palestinian population. They should not be given another one.

Just like Republicans are not being honest negotiators in the U.S. on health care, Israel has not been honest on the two state solution. Example: New WB construction with conditions the Palestinians don't disrupt the construction. Result: Finding yourself "red-flagged" out of the game and with no recourse. No 'Jewish' State.

This is the same Jimmy Carter who visited a settlement two months ago and said on camera that the Gush Etzion settlements were part of Israel and he didn't envision them ever being given to the Palestinians.

"By renouncing the dream of an independent Palestine, they would become fellow citizens with their Jewish neighbors." Am I missing something here? Wouldn't Israel have to actually *grant* them citizenship in order for them to become citizens. Does this wacko (Carter) really think that they would just *automatically* become Israeli? Please.

The evidence, Israel offering non-state states with no sovereignty or freedom for Palestinians is abundant. Even the current Netanyahu proposal offers neither freedom nor sovereignty for Palestinians. One state may be the only resolution now possible. And if Arab Israelis start to vote in numbers, a whole new paradigm will emerge.

It is indeed painful to see Mr Carter - a man I have long admired - being taken in by an anti-Israel point of view. He really should ask himself not whether Gaza is a 'walled in ghetto' - but how it came to be that way. Israel withdrew from Gaza in good faith, and has received rocket barrages in return. He really should ask himself why the momentum toward peace has slowed to a crawl. Israel - signatory to peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, and the Oslo Accords with the PLO - is not the impediment. The real impediment? Too many Palestinians simply remain irreconcilled to Israel's existence - and too many Westerners, including Mr Carter, are duped by them. One need only look at the emblem of the 'Palestine Solidarity Campaign' - to which a number of left-wing film stars and politicos belong - to realise this (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/1e/PSC_logo.jpg/180px-PSC_logo.jpg).

Yugoslavia was one state. The occupants got on really well didn't they ? The Shia & Suuni love each other in Iraq! Jews & Arabs proved they could not live to-gether in one state, hence the reason UNSCOP recommended partition. Only two states can resolve the impasse.

Put the brain power of Palestinians and Israelies together, along with the strategic location of the country, you can achieve wonders. Imagine a Middle Eastern Union similar to the EU or the USA. In the long run, everyone will be happy. A Jew dreaming about a land from the Nile to the Eufrates, can live anywhere and aPalestinian hoping to return to Jaffa, can also do that.

1.1 million refugees from Israel,where did you get these figures from,a Gaza book shop?

No Kidding. Agree with #4. They always wanted a one state solution, with Gaza and West Bank asborbed making the Palestinians the majority and the Israeli's the minority. If Carter and all of these do gooders and Palestinians spent as much time helping the Palestinians themselves and taking all of the money donated to the Palestinians instead of embzelling it for their own personal gain and if Carter took all of the Arab money paid to him and donated it to the Palestinians they worries would be for naught. As far as a walled in Ghetto of the Palestinians, these are their borders. It was the Palestinians hurling suicide bombers into Israel that necesitated the need for the wall in the first place. As far as occupation is concerned did any one forget that Israel pulled out of Gaza over 5 years ago and with the semblence of law and order in West Bank has very little to do with it. Can't these Isreal Jew haters shut up? Given history of antisemitism this is wishful thinking

Israel's attitude and actions are making this appear inevitable. Those that are for the continuation of the settler expansion program have yet to realize it. Time is running out for Isreal.

Is that because the more they build the sooner we get to one state?

Apparently Mr Carter seems to think that if the Palestinians decide to have one state, from the river to the sea, that settles matters. Do the Israelis have anything to say about this and what do you suppose it would be? The Arabs have proven over the last hundred years, at least, that they either will not accept a Jewish presemce on their land or will accept Jews only as second class citizens. When they learn that ALL of Palestine is NOT their land and agree to accept part of the loaf and not the whole thing, as Jews did in 1947, there might be a chance for peace. As far as Mr Carter's other comments I will only say there is a reason he is considered one of our worst Presidents.

Nethanyahu wanted a demilitarized Palestine and a one-state solution will deliver this. It will remove any threat to the security of the state of Israel and allow the Palestinians to obtain Israeli citizenship. If a two-state solution is not possible, this is the only viable alternative and would have the added bonus of bringing peace.

They know very well, that if they would only be patient enough, they would be back in all the major Israeli cities in a couple of decades (at the latest). But because they are a very modest people, they don't want everything, all they are asking for is about a quarter of their original land, so Israel could keep the remaining three quarters. However, I wonder how long the Palestinians can resist, since Israel keeps on insisting and insisting and insisting.... ....there comes a time where you simply can't say "no", as modest you may be, can you...??? :)

The reason there has not been a 2 state solution in 60 years is that the Palestinians don't want it.

It is documented that much of Jimmy's Carter funding comes direct from Arab sources. The threat that there will be one state, if not two, is grasping for straws. The Palestinians have been in denial since the UN recognized Israel in 1948, and have wallowed in infighting and corruption since. Rather than make threats of joining Israel or declaring themselves a state, they should recognize Israel, or agitate to rejoin Jordan and Egypt of which Palestine was an integral part, but from which they were excluded by their arab brethren. And before everything, let the Palestinians end their civil war where Fatah and Hamas have been tortuting, jailing, and kneecapping each other vying for power.