Carter on Israel

In today's Guardian, Jimmy Carter is once again building castles in the sky: withdraw from the occupied territories and all will be well.

There is little doubt that accommodation with Palestinians can bring full Arab recognition of Israel and its right to live in peace. Any rejectionist policies of Hamas or any terrorist group will be overcome by an Arab commitment to restrain further violence and to promote the wellbeing of the Palestinian people.

An Arab commitment to restrain further violence would be very welcome but it's just not going to happen. Nevertheless, Carter sets out what such a commitment would involve.

1. Israel's right to exist - and to live in peace - must be recognised and accepted by Palestinians and all other neighbours.

2. The killing of innocent people by suicide bombs or other acts of violence cannot be condoned.

3. Palestinians must live in peace and dignity, and permanent Israeli settlements on their land are a major obstacle to this goal.

Carter claims grounds for optimism here, though it's difficult to see why. The Palestinians are now led by an organization whose constitution denies Israel's right to exist; most Palestinians (and many of their supporters) regard suicide bombing as a legitimate tactic - Israeli civilians are not regarded as innocent people, suicide bombers are treated as martyrs; and the mere presence of Jews in the "Holy Land" (Carter's term not mine) is viewed as an affront to Palestinian dignity. Withdrawal will do nothing to change any of that.

Carter thinks that having achieved power, Hamas will be content to consolidate its political gains: "It will be a tragedy if it promotes or condones terrorism." Indeed it will be. Unfortunately, further tragedy seems unavoidable irrespective of Israeli actions - and to my mind, their safest course now lies in retreating behind the security barrier and mirroring the Hamas policy of non-engagement.

It's depressing, though entirely predictable, to find Jimmy Carter criticizing Israel for rejecting Bush's "road map to peace" when the Palestinians themselves declined to implement its provisions. As I said a while ago:

[A]ttempting to implement the road map has done little other than embolden those organizations working hardest for a Palestinian state. That would be fine, if it wasn’t for the fact that those groups are not democratic political parties, they are terrorist organizations with an agenda that goes far beyond the two-state solution.

I can see no basis for Carter's belief that Hamas in power will abandon both its methods and its ultimate objective, yet this assumption has become the conventional wisdom in certain circles - and that's a tragedy in itself.