December 1, 2003	Monday	Shawwal 6, 1424

WASHINGTON, Nov 30: Former president Jimmy Carter has criticized the White House for favouring Israel and abandoning “a bipartisan commitment” to Middle East peace, Time magazine reported on Sunday.

The George W. Bush Administration “has abandoned what has been in the past a bipartisan commitment to a relatively balanced position in trying to find peace,” in the Middle East, the former president told the magazine’s edition to come out this week.

“It’s been an ostentatious alliance between the White House and the (Ariel) Sharon government, I think to the detriment of our nation’s image and to the detriment of an eventual peace agreement,” he said, adding that “they’ve hurt” the Arab-Israeli peace process.

—AFP