Here is the transcript of Jimmy Carter's speech in Gaza to graduates of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency schools, in which he said that the citizens of Gaza are being treated more like animals than human beings. It includes an appeal to Hamas to accept the state of Israel and, in its vision of a future, the suggestion of collaboration with Barack Obama:
Palestinians want more than just to survive. They hope to lead the Arab world, to be a bridge between modern political life and traditions that date back to the Biblical era. The nation you will create must be pluralistic and democratic – the new Palestine that your intellectuals have dreamt about. Palestine must combine the best of the East and the West. The Palestinian state, like the land, must be blessed for all people. Jerusalem must be shared with everyone who loves it – Christians, Jews, and Muslims.
With our new leaders in Washington, my country will move into the forefront of this birth of a new Palestine. We were all reminded of this renewed hope and commitment by President Obama's recent speech in Cairo.
President Obama's resolve to resume the Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic process based on the principle of two states for two peoples must be welcomed. This vision of two sovereign nations living as neighbors is not a mere convenient phrase. It is the basis for a lasting peace for this entire region, including Syria and Lebanon.
We all know that a necessary step is the ending of the siege of Gaza – the starving of 1 ½ million people of the necessities of life. Never before in history has a large community been savaged by bombs and missiles and then deprived of the means to repair itself.
All of us have a responsibility to work for the day when… the Holy Land of the three great faiths is the place of peace that
God intended it to be; when Jerusalem is a secure and lasting home for
Jews and Christians and Muslims, and a place for all of the children of
Abraham to mingle peacefully together as in the story of Isra —
(applause) — as in the story of Isra, when Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed,
peace be upon them, joined in prayer.
And Zionist founder Theodor Herzl, in an exchange at the Vatican with Cardinal Secretary of State del Val in 1903:
del Val: "How… can we agree to [Jews'] regaining possession of the Holy Land?"
Herzl: "We are asking only for the profane earth; the Holy Places are to be extraterritorialized."
Herzl frequently made this promise, beginning in 1896.
