Jimmy Carter Quotes

I cannot conceive of Israel withdrawing if Arab states do not recognize Israel, within secure borders.

Because I know about the Holy Land, I've taught lessons about the Holy Land all my life, and - but you can't bring peace to Israel without giving the Palestinian also peace. And Lebanon and Jordan and Syria as well.

Jordan has a very important part in any Arab-Israeli peace process.

It would behoove the world to become used to this fact: that without a just solution to the Palestine tragedy, there can be no stable peace in the Middle East.

I think history will judge him very harshly for not having seized the opportunity in the year 2000 to embrace the offer that was very courageously made by the then Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barack, which involved the Israelis agreeing to 90 per cent of what the Palestinians had wanted.

It's not good for Israel to have a Palestinian state in the heart of Israel.

There is a general sense of guarded optimism. There have been too many false dawns over the last 60 years. There have been more tears than smiles, but I sense there is a commitment from Abbas and Sharon, a new determination to make a reality of the goal of two states living side by side.

I don't think there's going to be peace as long as Israel is occupying land that belongs to the Palestinians, to Lebanon and to Syria.

There cannot be peace in the Middle East without giving Palestinians their full rights.

It is clear a Palestinian state is needed.

Here, I declare that the Palestine Liberation Organization is ready to return immediately to the negotiating table on the basis of the adopted terms of reference based on international legitimacy and a complete cessation of settlement activities.

I hope that France - and all of Europe - we would take an initiative for the year 2012 to be the year of peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

The core issue here is that the Israeli government refuses to commit to terms of reference for the negotiations that are based on international law and United Nations resolutions, and that it frantically continues to intensify building of settlements on the territory of the State of Palestine.

The security and the future of Jordan is hand-in-hand with the future of the Palestinians and the Israelis.

I think that a strong Israel is the only Israel that will bring the Arabs to the peace table.

The U.S. should support the historic Gaza withdrawal as a first step toward a final settlement: a permanent Palestinian state in Gaza and nearly all of the West Bank.

I think that peace will require two states, a Palestinian state that recognizes the Jewish state.

You know, it is very clear that the Israelis, they don't want this plan and they don't agree.

I am passionately invested in the survival of Israel and everything Israel represents. But I am extremely critical of much of its policy. I believe that the occupation must end. And if it doesn't, it will end Israel. I'm not in favor of settlements.

We expect President Bush to implement his own vision of a two-state solution, the birth of the Palestinian State and the ending of the occupation that started in 1967.

The Israelis should understand that it is in their long-term interest to have a democratic Egypt as a neighbor, and that it is prudent to acknowledge the legitimate interests of the Palestinians and to grant them their own state.

The Israeli people are skeptical about the chances of a long-term peace, but if they saw it, they'd grab it. Any Israeli government that wants to be reelected should be interested in a lasting peace.

If Hamas wants to be part of the real world, it has to end up accepting Israel's right to exist.

I have no doubts, by the way, that Ariel Sharon really wants to move the peace process forward.

You cannot achieve Middle East peace without deciding the fate of the Temple Mount.