WASHINGTON (JTA) — Jimmy Carter says Barack Obama pledged to waste no time getting involved in Middle East peace talks.
"He promised to me personally" that he would "not wait even a month after he was president to start working on the Middle East peace process," said the former president in an interview with CNN.
Carter added that he was "thrilled" that Obama would bring a "new approach" to the peace process.
Asked whether it would be "unwise" to deal with anything other than the economic crisis in his first months in office, Carter said he did not agree.
"I think it is a very important issue," he said of the Middle East peace process. "I don’t have any doubt in my mind that to find peace and security and human rights for the Palestinians and also for Israel would be a major factor in reducing the threat of terrorism."
