Because I know about the Holy Land, I’ve taught lessons about the Holy Land all my life, and - but you can’t bring peace to Israel without giving the Palestinian also peace. And Lebanon and Jordan and Syria as well.

Carter links his long-standing personal and religious engagement with the “Holy Land” to a diplomatic principle he championed as president and afterward: Israel’s security cannot be separated from justice and security for Palestinians and neighboring Arab states. The quote frames peace as regional and reciprocal rather than unilateral—an argument that durable settlement requires addressing Palestinian political rights and the broader Arab–Israeli conflict system (including Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria). It also reflects Carter’s self-presentation as a morally motivated mediator, grounding foreign-policy claims in lived experience and ethical obligation rather than purely strategic calculation.