Carter: If no Palestine, Israel sees 'catastrophe'

By PETER JAMES SPIELMANN, Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK – Former President Jimmy Carter said Monday that Israel will face a "catastrophe" unless it revives the Mideast peace process and establishes an independent Palestinian state.

In an interview with The Associated Press, he said Arabs will outnumber Jews in the Holy Land in the foreseeable future.

"If we look toward a one-state solution, which seems to be the trend — I hope not inexorable — it would be a catastrophe for Israel, because there would be only three options in that case," Carter said.

One would be to expel large numbers of Palestinians, which he said would amount to "ethnic cleansing."

The second would be to deprive the Palestinians of equal voting rights, which he said would amount to "apartheid."

The third would be to give the Palestinians equal voting rights, and therefore the majority, he said.

"And you would no longer have a Jewish state," Carter said. "The basic decisions would be made by the Palestinians, who would almost very likely vote in a bloc, whereas you would have some sharp divisions among the Israelis, because the Israelis always have different points of view."

Carter spoke to The Associated Press as his new book, "We Can Have Peace in the Holy Land," was released.

His wording on Israel's options was not new. His 2006 book, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," provoked a hail of criticism, particularly from Jewish-Americans who felt it unfairly compared Israeli treatment of Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza to the legalized racial oppression that once existed in South Africa.

Carter still believes a two-state solution is the best option, with all of Israel's Arab neighbors recognizing its right to exist in peace, and Israel withdrawing from most of the land it captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War to create an independent Palestine.

Carter brokered the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt 30 years ago, and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.

During Monday's interview, Carter also discussed North Korea's nuclear program, saying he thought the communist nation would be willing to give up its nuclear weapons for U.S. diplomatic recognition, a peace deal with South Korea and America, and if it got new atomic power reactors and free fuel oil.

"It could be worked out, in my opinion, in half a day," Carter said.

Last week, North Korea's Foreign Ministry said it would give up its nuclear weapons only if Washington establishes diplomatic relations with the regime and the U.S. ceases to pose a nuclear threat to the North.

"I went over there in 1994 and I worked out a complete agreement with Kim Il Sung to eliminate all nuclear programs, and to let International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors come in without impediment," Carter said.

"President Clinton adopted that and put it into effect." But he said it was later shelved by President George W. Bush.

Carter believes a deal could be accomplished with good will.

"North Koreans, in my opinion, whom I know fairly well, have always been willing to forego their nuclear capability if they have diplomatic relations with the United States, first of all, which is not easy," Carter told the AP.

"And if they have an assurance with the United States that it would not attack them militarily, of course with the proviso that North Korea not attack South Korea," he said.

Carter said the rest of the solution is as easy as replacing their old dangerous reactors with new, safer designs with guaranteed IAEA inspection access, and giving North Korea fuel oil to run electric generators until its power grid is improved.