Jimmy Carter visits Jacksonville to announce plan
Decades of violence between Israelis and Palestinians could be ended by carving out space for a Palestinian state, according to Jimmy Carter.
The 90-year-old former president visited Jacksonville Oct. 14 to promote a plan for peace between Israel and Palestine, but Jewish leaders in Springfield say establishing trust between the two sides will be the most difficult hurdle.
Carter, who served as president from 1977 to 1981, was invited to Illinois College in Jacksonville by wealthy businessman Khalaf Al Habtoor, a citizen of the United Arab Emirates and a benefactor of Illinois College. Besides his extensive business dealings, Al Habtoor is known for his vocal support of human rights.
Illinois College spokesman Todd Spann says about 2,500 people packed a gymnasium at Illinois College to hear Carter, Al Habtoor and former Illinois Congressman Paul Findley, 92, speak about foreign policy and peace. Besides addressing the Israel-Palestine issue, the surprisingly spry Carter told several jokes, condemned violence against women worldwide, and Carter and Al Habtoor together announced their Pathways to Peace plan, which calls for a “two-state solution” in Israel and the contested areas known as the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
Although separated by about 20 miles, the two contested areas together hold large concentrations of Palestinians. Frequent military campaigns by Israel and various attacks by Palestinians have left thousands dead, while Palestinians in the disputed areas claim Israeli checkpoints violate human rights.
Israel contends that ongoing rocket attacks by Palestinians hamper peace talks, while the Palestine Liberation Organization condemns Israel’s practice of building Jewish settlements in Palestinian areas. The complex problem is compounded by historic animosity between Jewish and Arab communities, religious dispute over control of Jerusalem and lingering Cold War tensions by outside powers.
Carter said Israel should adopt the borders it had in 1967, prior to the Six-Day War in which Israel gained swaths of land from neighboring Syria, Egypt and Jordan. Among other areas, Israel took over the Gaza Strip from Egypt during the war and gained the West Bank from Jordan.
Carter pointed to United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 as the foundation for the peace plan. The resolution from 1967 called for the withdrawal of armed forces from the disputed territory and mutual recognition of each state in the region.
“That’s still the official policy of the United Nations, of the United States of America, of every country in Europe and of almost every country on Earth,” Carter said. “It’s what the people in Israel would like to see. It’s what the Palestinians would like to see. We’ll never give up on that effort as long as I have life.”
Rabbi Barry Marks, rabbi of Temple Israel in Springfield, says although Israeli politics are divided on the issue, many in the Jewish community – especially American Jews – favor a separate state for Palestinians. He says the 1967 border plan is a reasonable place to start, but one of the main issues preventing agreement is a lack of trust between Israel and Palestine. Numerous accords between the two countries have been broken, often with violence. Marks says Israel’s main concern is security, and Israeli leaders must be assured any land they cede to Palestine won’t be used to launch attacks against their country.
“Security considerations are important for Israel, just because the area is so small,” Marks said. “Israelis have a real sense of vulnerability.”
During his speech, Carter suggested that foreign monetary aid the U.S. provides to Israel could be used as a bargaining chip during peace talks, but Natalie Silverman, chairwoman of the Springfield Jewish Community Relations Council, says doing so would have negative repercussions for both Israel and the U.S. Most of the roughly $3 billion in annual aid to Israel is in the form of grants to purchase supplies and military equipment from U.S. companies, Silverman says, so cutting off the aid would diminish Israel’s defense capabilities and hurt the U.S. defense industry.
Silverman says she has been to Israel several times, and on one recent trip she stood on the Israeli-Syrian border, which was largely unprotected despite the ongoing Syrian rebellion.
“You could hear the mortars right by Quneitra (a destroyed city on the border),” Silverman said. “Israel is a very small piece of real estate. One small move, and you’re gone.”
