Carter derides Obama's Middle East policy

FORMER United States president Jimmy Carter has derided as "feeble" American plans to mediate in the dispute between the Israelis and Palestinians by shuttling back and forth between the two.

He said: "There's no doubt that, in general, the United States government has been much more attuned to the sensitivities of the Israelis and has yielded excessively to the circumstances in the Holy Land as Israel has confiscated several lands within Palestine.

"I hope that in the future we'll see the United States taking a much more balanced position and doing everything possible to implement a two-state solution (that establishes an independent Palestinian state based on 1967 borders]".

The remarks come as Washington has expressed rare public outrage over Israel's plans to build Jewish homes in a traditionally Arab part of Jerusalem.