Still at It

Jimmy Carter wants the U.S. to drop Hamas from its list of terrorist organizations. His persistent scolding of Israel suggests he would prefer that the Jewish state be added to it.

The Camp David Accords, which provided the framework for the peace between Israel and Egypt, stand as Carter's signal accomplishment in foreign policy. Carter shares credit for the happy outcome, but the negotiations between Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat commenced in large part because of a Carter mistake. In Myths, Illusions, and Peace: Finding a New Direction for America in the Middle East, Dennis Ross and David Makovsky explain:

"What is important to understand, however, is that Sadat's arrival [in Jerusalem] came not as a result of Carter's efforts, but despite them. To be fair, President Carter shifted gears the following month both to support Sadat's move and to see if he could be reinforced by engaging other Arab players. And Carter's involvement would prove to be critical in securing the Egypt-Israel peace treaty of March 1979. But this does not excuse the American diplomatic failures through much of 1977, which prompted Sadat to go off on his own."

Carter's gravest error was his attempt to re-introduce the Soviet Union to multi-state discussions regarding the Middle East. Sadat had kicked the Soviets out of Egypt and had no interest in seeing them reassert themselves in the region. He knew they would have been up to no good. Israel was not eager to contend with a mendacious Moscow, either. Morever, movement toward the Sadat breakthrough predated the Carter administration. "The Egypt-Israel peace treaty of 1979, the first between Israel and an Arab state -- the biggest of them all, no less --finds its origins in the Kissinger diplomacy [of the early 1970s]."

Since leaving the White House, Carter has proved particularly unhelpful in matters related to the Middle East. The rockets fired from a Gaza controlled by Hamas indicate he is wrong again.