George Mitchell, the former Democratic Senate Majority Leader who served as President Obama’s Special Envoy for Middle East Peace, said in an interview Thursday that he disagreed with President Jimmy Carter’s New York Times op-ed published earlier this week, which suggested that Obama impose terms of an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord through the United Nations Security Council.

Although Mitchell praised Carter’s efforts to broker a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt, he told NewsMax TV’s Steve Malzberg that “on this issue I don’t agree with President Carter.” Mitchell explained that for the United States to take sides and “unilaterally decide” acceptable outcomes of key issues, or to recognize a Palestinian state, “would be a reversal of what had been American policy for several years.”

The argument is made that, well, 137 countries have done so, which is true—something which ought to and does concern Israel. But the United States is not one of 138 countries; the United States is the world’s dominant power, [and] will play a decisive role in whatever happens in that region. And so I think we should continue the policy that we had and try to encourage the parties to negotiate the two-state solution, at which time, if successful, there will be not just a nominal Palestinian state, but a real Palestinian state.

Aaron David Miller, who also served as an American peace negotiator, wrote in an analysis for CNN.com earlier this week that choosing to follow Carter’s advice would “leave Obama’s legacy in tatters.”

[Photo: NewsMaxTV / YouTube ]