Carter says Trump Mideast plan violates international law
Jimmy Carter said that President Donald Trump's Middle East plan would violate international law.
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Jimmy Carter said Thursday that President Donald Trump s Middle East plan would violate international law and urged the United Nations to stop Israel from annexing Palestinian land.
"The new US plan undercuts prospects for a just peace between Israelis and Palestinians," the former US president said in a statement.
"If implemented, the plan will doom the only viable solution to this long-running conflict, the two-state solution," said Carter, who brokered the landmark 1978 Camp David Accords that brought peace between Israel and Egypt.
He urged UN member-states "to adhere to UN Security Council resolutions and to reject any unilateral Israeli implementation of the proposal by grabbing more Palestinian land."
His office said in a statement that Trump s plan, unveiled Tuesday, "breaches international law regarding self-determination, the acquisition of land by force, and annexation of occupied territories."
"By calling Israel the nation-state of the Jewish people, the plan also encourages the denial of equal rights to the Palestinian citizens of Israel," it said.
Trump presented his long-awaited plan Tuesday alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his close ally, who shortly afterward signalled he would seek to annex a large part of the West Bank.
Trump s plan recognizes Israeli sovereignty over most of its West Bank settlements and the Jordan Valley, as well as an undivided Jerusalem.
The plan also backs a Palestinian state with a capital on the outskirts of Jerusalem but says the Palestinian leadership must recognize Israel as a Jewish homeland and agree to a demilitarized state.
The 95-year-old Carter, the longest-living president in US history, has frequently spoken out since losing re-election in 1980 and has won the Nobel Peace Prize for his humanitarian work.
In his recent years, he has frequently faced criticism from pro-Israel supporters for his views on the conflict, especially his use of the word "apartheid" to describe the Jewish state s potential future without a peace deal.
