For more than 36 years, former President Jimmy Carter’s words and actions have affected Israel and other Middle Eastern countries while bringing Carter praise and — especially in recent years — criticism.
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Eight key situations in which Carter has made headlines over the Middle East include:
- He brokered the historic 1978 peace accord between Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin while hosting a summit involving them at the Camp David presidential retreat. PBS reported the results of the Camp David talks were “substantial and historic.” Significant events included the return of the Sinai to Egypt, the establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and Egypt, and a framework for guiding the subsequent negotiations on Palestinian self-governance and relationship to Israel.
- Carter's failure to bring about the return of more than 60 Americans taken hostage when young Islamic revolutionaries in 1979 overran the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran. PBS reported the hostages were all released minutes after Ronald Reagan, who had defeated Carter in the 1980 presidential election, took the oath of office as president 444 days after their abduction.
- Carter received the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, with the awards committee describing the Camp David event as being "in itself a great enough achievement to qualified for the Nobel Peace Prize,” according to that prize's website.
- He wrote a 2006 book, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," which outraged Jewish leaders who blasted Carter for what appeared to be his likening of Israel's settlement practices to apartheid, according to the Jewish Chronicle.
- He held meetings in 2008 with leaders of the U.S.-designated terrorist group Hamas, a move CNN reported garnered condemnation from the U.S. and Israeli governments.
- He accused President Barack Obama’s administration in 2012 of sanctioning the “widespread abuse of human rights” by authorizing drone strikes to kill suspected terrorists, according to ABC News.
- He called upon on the European Union in 2013 to label products from West Bank settlements that he said were illegal under international law, although he rejected an economic boycott to pressure Israel over the settlements, according to the Times of Israel.
- He teamed up with Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland, to jointly recommended last August that the West recognize Hamas as a legitimate "political actor" that represents the bulk of the Palestinian population, according to USA Today.
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