Balanced stand on ME is political suicide, says Carter (Yitzhak Benhorin)

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Hinting Israel is not interested in fair peace, former U.S. president says any member of Congress taking balanced stand on conflict risks 'political suicide.'

Yitzhak Benhorin -- YNet News

WASHINGTON - "I don't see any present prospect that any member of the U.S. Congress, the House or Senate, would say, "Let's take a balanced position between Israel and the Palestinians and negotiate a peace agreement," said Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter in an interview to the ABC network Sunday.

Appearing on "This week with George Stephanopoulos," the former President got the chance to defend himself, and his contraversial book "Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid" which, three months after publication, continues to makes waves in the American media.

Carter however, said, "It's almost politically suicidal in the United States for a member of the Congress who wants to seek reelection to take any stand that might be interpreted as anti- policy of the conservative Israeli government, which is equated, as I've seen it myself, as anti-Semitism."

Carter reiterated that he felt his book "accurately describes what's going on in the West Bank," and said that he did not regret writing it.