Former United States president Jimmy Carter has called on Barack Obama to recognize and establish official diplomatic ties with Palestine before leaving office in January.
The statement comes amid fears that President-elect Donald Trump will drop the two-state solution from the government's policy towards Israel/Palestine, marking a major shift in America's approach to Middle East peace.
There is also reason to believe that Trump's incumbency will also see a more lax policy towards illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
“Mr. Trump does not view the settlements as being an obstacle for peace,” Trump's Middle East advisor Jason Greenblatt told Israel Army Radio shortly after Trump's election.
"The simple but vital step this administration must take before its term expires on Jan. 20 is to grant American diplomatic recognition to the state of Palestine, as 137 countries have already done, and help it achieve full United Nations membership," Carter wrote in an op-ed for the New York Times.
Carter said that the possibility for a two-state solution is dwindling as the Israeli government continues to construct new settlements.
Citing some 600,000 Israeli settlers in Palestinian territory as a serious threat to peace, Carter said settlements are, "hastening a one-state reality that could destroy Israeli democracy and will result in intensifying international condemnation of Israel."
He said that official recognition of Palestine is the "best" and perhaps the "only" option now that would counter "the one-state reality that Israel is imposing on itself and the Palestinian people."
"Recognition of Palestine and a new Security Council resolution are not radical new measures, but a natural outgrowth of America’s support for a two-state solution."
However, not all sympathizers with the plight of the Palestinians are on board with this idea.
Prominent Palestinian activist and founder of online magazine Electronic Intifada argues that the two-state solution which would see a Palestinian authority preside over Palestine's post-1967 internationally recognized borders is just another form of "racial segregation". He compares it to the bantustans of Apartheid South Africa which saw the crowding of blacks in ghettos where living was geographically and economically unviable.
Since his presidency in the late 1970s, Carter has sought to position himself as a peacemaker.
During his administration, the controversial Camp David Accords were signed by Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, normalizing relations between Egypt and the Israeli government.
Through his work with The Carter Center, Carter has continued to promote a two-state solution for Palestine and Israel. He has also been one of the most high-profile critic of Israel's policies towards Lebanon, which it considers an enemy state, the West Bank, which it continues to occupy, and Gaza, which the Jewish state has a placed a deadly blockade on for more than a decade.
During Israel's 2014 assault on Gaza, Carter joined Ireland's former president, Mary Robinson, in calling for an end to the siege of Gaza. They also called for Hamas to be included in peace talks with the Israeli government and to be recognized as a legitimate political party.
"The Carter Center has continued to support a two-state solution by hosting discussions this month with Israeli and Palestinian representatives, searching for an avenue toward peace," Carter wrote in his op-ed.
"Based on the positive feedback from those talks, I am certain that United States recognition of a Palestinian state would make it easier for other countries that have not recognized Palestine to do so, and would clear the way for a Security Council resolution on the future of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."
Carter also pointed out that President-elect Donald Trump's policy on Palestine remains unclear.
Last week the President-elect told the New York Times: "I would love to be able to be the one that made peace with Israel and the Palestinians."
