Former President Jimmy Carter on Thursday said it’s impossible to imagine Israel and Palestine reaching a two-state solution.
“At this moment, there is a zero chance of the two-state solution,” Carter said, according to Prospect Magazine.
“These are the worst prospects for peace between Israel and the Palestinians for years,” he said, adding that the “U.S. has withdrawn” from helping both sides solve their long-standing issues.
{mosads}Carter blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for exacerbating Israel’s bitter feud with the Palestinians.
“[Netanyahu] does not now and has never sincerely believed in a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine,” he said.
“The Netanyahu government decided early on to adopt a one-state solution without giving [the Palestinians] equal rights,” he said of Israel’s policy of maintaining control of the disputed West Bank territory.
Carter also praised President Obama’s historic nuclear deal with Iran, which would lift sanctions in exchange for the country curbing its nuclear program.
“[It is] the best we can do and the only alternative to a conflict with Iran,” Carter said, adding that the accord is “superb.”
The former president said he hopes America’s “relations with Iran can improve” but admitted Congress is a “big obstacle” to the agreement’s future.
Congress is currently within a 60-day window for reviewing Obama’s landmark pact with Tehran.
Votes are expected next month on a resolution to approve or disapprove the agreement.
Netanyahu, a vocal critic of the deal, has repeatedly argued it will actually help Iran produce nuclear weapons and threaten his nation’s existence.
Carter’s bleak assessment of affairs in the Middle East follows his disclosure Wednesday evening that he is battling cancer.
“Recent liver surgery revealed that I have cancer that now is in other parts of my body,” he said in a statement published by his nonprofit organization.
“A more complete statement will be made when facts are known, possibly next week,” the 39th president added.