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."

Many Arabs will remember Cuba's longtime revolutionary leader Fidel Castro fondly for his historic support and friendship. The revolutionary leader died on Friday evening at 90, with the news breaking around the world on Saturday.

Here are 5 ways Castro impacted the Middle East.

Under Castro's leadership, Cuba became one of the first countries in the world to recognize the Palestinian Liberation Organization when it was founded in 1964. 

Ten years later, PLO leader Yasser Arafat would visit Castro in Cuba, further cementing Palestinian ties with the Cuban government. Castro's government also awarded Arafat with one of Cuba's highest decorations, the Orden Nacional Playa Giron, or Bay of Pigs Medal.

The medal is "awarded to Cuban citizens or foreigners who have excelled in the struggle against imperialism, colonialism and neo-colonialism, or who have done great deeds for peace and progress of mankind," according to Al Jazeera.

Castro's Cuba was also a friend to a young Algeria during its revolution for independence from France and following independence in 1962.

"Castro is my brother," Algeria's first prime minister, Ahmed Ben Bella, announced following Algeria's declaration of independence.

He flew to Cuba that same year to meet with Castro and discuss their respective countries' revolutions.

"Protocol was forgotten and we talked … the two youngest revolutions of the world met, compared notes and together envisioned the future," Ben Bella said later in regards to the meeting, according to the New Arab. 

These ties have continued until the present day. "The friendship between Algeria and Cuba remains as indestructible as fifty years ago", current Cuban President Raul Castro, the brother of Fidel Castro, said in 2009. 

Educational, oil and medical agreements were enhanced between the two countries in October. 

Throughout the Cold War, Cuba was a major power player in the Middle East. South Yemen of a then divided Yemen was the only Arab country to adopt a Soviet-style system similar to Cuba, and received support from the island nation. Hundreds of soldiers were sent to Yemen during its civil and regional wars. 

Yemen's deposed president Ali Abdullah Saleh has asked special permission from the United Nations Security Council to attend Castro's funeral. Saleh currently is under UN sanctions for "threatening peace and obstructing Yemen's political process."

In a statement, Saleh's political party called Castro "the last of the twentieth century's heroes and the pioneer of the liberation movements who fought against imperialism and retrograde feudalism," according to Reuters.

On the surface, this would seem to be an unlikely friendship. What with Iran being a theocracy and Cuba being ardently secular. But the two countries had a common enemy, so the thorny differences in their ideologies could be set aside. 

 "As you have witnessed, the Islamic Revolution has always sided with Cuba in its conflict with the United States, since we believe that your struggle is a just one,” Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said during a meeting with Castro in 2001, according Middle East Eye. 

"From an Islamic point of view, your resistance against U.S. bullying and domination is a merit. This is why you received that warm welcome when you visited Tehran University today. If leaders of many countries visit our universities, they will not receive such a warm welcome. This shows that our people are quite aware of the value of your just resistance against the United States."

In 2014, during Israel's assault on Gaza in Palestine, Castro described the aggression as a "new, repugnant form of fascism."

"Why does the government of [Israel] think that the world will be impervious to this macabre genocide that is being committed today against the Palestinian people?"

He went on to sign a pro-Palestinian manifesto the same year, demanding the UN to hold Israel accountable to its resolutions.

In late 1959, Castro's brother Raul visited the Gaza Strip in a first-of-its-kind trip on the international stage. Meanwhile, Latin American countries repeatedly supported the Israeli position in international forums. 

Castro's revolution inspired many throughout the Middle East and the world. At the same time, as is the case with many leaders, his government oversaw significant human rights abuses. Thousands of dissidents were detained and imprisoned during the decades of his rule. Families were torn apart as many fled to new opportunities in the United States.

In his death, some rejoice and others mourn. Castro was, like any other great leader, deeply loved by many and bitterly despised by many others.