Jimmy Carter on Palestine and apartheid Israel

"Palestinians can't even ride on the same roads that the Israelis have created and built in Palestinian territory.

The Israelis never see a Palestinian.

The Palestinians never see an Israeli except at a distance, except the Israeli soldiers.

So within Palestinian territory they are absolutely and totally separated, much worse than they were in South Africa.

The other definition of apartheid is, one side dominates the other, and the Israelis completely dominate the Palestinian people."

Amy Goodman: Why don't Americans know what you have seen?

Carter: "Americans don't want to know."

"Americans don't want to know. Israelis don't want to know.

It's a terrible human rights persecution that far transcends what any outsider would imagine.

There are powerful political forces in America that prevents any objective analysis of the problem in the Holyland.

I think it's accurate to say that not a single member of Congress, with whom I am familiar, would possibly speak out and call for Israel to withdraw to their legal boundaries or to publicize the plight of the Palestinians.

And that is added on to by the very effective work of the American Israeli group called AIPAC.

AIPAC is not dedicated to peace.

AIPAC is dedicated to inducing the maximum support in America, in the White House, in the Congress and in the public media.

"How much of the Israeli conflict do you think belongs to the Israelis for their tactics, like seizing land and occupying territory that didn't belong to them - How much of it is the responsibility of the Palestinians for their suicide terror attacks and their bombings within Israel proper?

President Carter: "The basic cause of the conflict is a sustained occupation of other people's land by the Israelis.

This is a direct violation of United Nations resolutions.

It's a direct violation of the International Quartet's Road Map,

It's a direct violation of the commitments that leaders of Israel have made in the past at Camp David when I was President and in Oslo, promising that Israel would withdraw from Occupied territory.

They have failed to do so.

In response to that - and I'm not excusing them - there has been acts of violence.

Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid - President Jimmy Carter