Book Review "Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid"

Jimmy Carter's latest book "Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid", a review:

Since it's release several weeks ago, Jimmy Carter's new book, "Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid", has received enormous publicity as well as a litany of reviews, both critical and praiseworthy. After reading this book, one can begin to understand why Jimmy Carter's place in presidential history will be not be one of the "great peacemaker" in the Middle East, but rather of the president who holds the dubious distinction of bearing the most animus towards Israel and the Jewish people. In this one-sided, totally skewed and highly subjective piece of Arab propaganda, Mr. Carter presents a premise and thesis that reeks of vacuity, while presenting ostensibly specious arguments that obfuscate both fact and truth. According to Mr. Carter's gospel on the Israeli-Palestinian debacle, the blame for the continued tensions between these two peoples rests squarely on the shoulders of Israel. His use of the word apartheid in the title says it all. Carter makes it abundantly clear that his accusations of racism and systematic oppression of the Palestinians is tantamount to the South African version of apartheid, which has been universally condemned. According to Carter, "'The book is about Palestine and what is happening to Palestinian people. Which is a terrible affliction and oppression of these people. There is no doubt that in Palestine, the people are treated with, in many cases, much more harsh treatment than existed in South Africa, even in the apartheid years." Carter fails miserably in presenting his argument because his book is riddled with gross historic inaccuracies, colossal factual errors, glaring omissions and a plethora of distorted statements. This book also lacks any footnotes or scholarly references and the miniscule amount of research done does not buttress his claims. The publication of this book was followed by the resignation of Professor Kenneth Stein of Emory University and the Carter Center.Professor Stein had a long-standing association with the Carter Center in his capacity as an expert in Middle East politics and history. Professor Stein was in fact the first director of the Carter Center (1983-1986). Professor Stein is apparently terminating his association with the Carter Center, solely as a result of Carter's new book, Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid. The reaction of Professor Stein -- a formerly close associate and collaborator of Carter -- to Carter's new book is as follows: "President Carter's book on the Middle East, a title too inflammatory to even print, is not based on unvarnished analyses; it is replete with factual errors, copied materials not cited, superficialities, glaring omissions, and simply invented segments. Aside from the one-sided nature of the book, meant to provoke, there are recollections cited from meetings where I was the third person in the room, and my notes of those meetings show little similarity to points claimed in the book. Being a former President does not give one a unique privilege to invent information or to unpack it with cuts, deftly slanted to provide a particular outlook. Having little access to Arabic and Hebrew sources, I believe, clearly handicapped his understanding and analyses of how history has unfolded over the last decade.

Falsehoods, if repeated often enough become meta-truths, and they then can become the erroneous baseline for shaping and reinforcing attitudes and for policy-making. The history and interpretation of the Arab-Israeli conflict is already drowning in half-truths, suppositions, and self-serving myths; more are not necessary. In due course, I shall detail these points and reflect on their origins."

Carter devotes many chapters of this book to lambasting Israel for constructing the security wall dividing the Palestinian population from the Israeli population. He mentions nothing about Israel's right to defend herself against Palestinian suicide bombers, nor does he mention the clear and present danger of a Hamas government. Carter displays no understanding or sympathy for Israelis whose lives have been snuffed out by Palestinian terrorists and even justifies such actions as a result of Israeli tyranny.

As Carter takes us down his own personal memory lane, he speaks of his thorny relationship with former Israeli Prime Minister, Menachem Begin. He blames Begin's "instransigence" for his failed peace making attempts at Camp David and insists that Palestinian claims of land ownership are indeed factual. It is clear that Carter is a man who is seething with anger that his political career came to a demise when he was not re-elected. Rather than taking personal responsibility as a failed leader during the Iranian hostage crisis, her turns to Begin, making him the scapegoat for his shortcomings. It is clear that Carter couldn't manipulate Begin nor coerce him to make even greater territorial compromises, so he concludes that it was Begin who was at total fault for not guaranteeing him his place in history as the "great peacemaker" in the Middle East

Carter obviously feels threatened by the "pro-Jewish" lobby in the United States which he claims stifles any debate on the Middle East. He strongly asserts that a countervailing political force is necessary for assuring long lasting peace. It is noteworthy to mention that Simon and Schuster, Carter's publishers, delayed releasing the book until after the mid-term elections that saw an upsurge in the Democratic party at the polls. Surely, releasing this book prior to that, might have jeopardized the Democratic candidates chances for a victory. He aims his diatribes against the Jewish lobby to Christian evangelicals, whose support of Israel has been unwavering. He implores them to reconsider and re-think their position on Israel and points out the secular nature of the Israeli government and its lack of religious committment. He mentions nothing of the religious devotion and committment of the Jewish settler movement as well as other Orthodox religious organizations. He also chides President Bush for not forging ahead with his "Roadmap To Peace" and for his support for Israel.

Carter's book can be summed up as an ill conceived and egregious attack on Israel and the Jewish people. It is a shoddy attempt to present his own biased and anti-Semitic views in the form of an intellectual treatise. This book couldn't be farther from anything pretending to be intellectual in nature. The Arab propogandists of the world must be thrilled. After all, an ex-president of the USA touting their line is something money can't buy. -- Fern Sidman

Others writing about Israel and others under attack:

If we wanted, we could burn down Gaza, at Nuke's News and Views
The Siege of Jerusalem Now and Then, Yid With Lid
The State of Jihad, Bill Roggio

Iran: The Islamic Republic of Iran continues to pursue its nuclear program, against the wishes of the United Nations. Iran still shelters over 100 al-Qaeda leaders, including Said bin Laden, Osama's son, and Saif al-Adel, al-Qaeda's strategic planner. Muqtada al-Sadr receives the support of Iran, which is working to destabilize the Iraqi government and fomet civil war. Qods Force agents have been arrested in Iraq with ""weapons lists, documents pertaining to shipments of weapons into Iraq, organizational charts, telephone records and maps, among other sensitive intelligence information... [and] information about importing modern, specially shaped explosive charges into Iraq." Hezbollah continues to be Iran's main terrorist proxy, and received significant aid in the form of sophisticated weapons systems, cash and political support. Iranian weapons were fielded during the Israel-Hezbollah War, including a cruise missile which disabled an Israeli warship, medium range rockets, and UAVs. Iran has also supported Somalia's Islamic Courts by providing arms and training to the organization.

Unwarranted Pessimism at The American Conservative, Wilsonizer

An eyewitness view of the new world war, Zionism and Israel News

Anyone who doubts that the Cold War has quickly given way to a hot war - World War III - would have their doubts sorely tested should they pay a visit to the Israel-Lebanon border. Last week I visited border mark 105, the nondescript gully where the 2006 Lebanese war began. Only scorch marks on the ground remain from the death and violence that took place there. ...

Jihad and shahada have been the common denominators of the otherwise unrelated bloodshed in Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and the violent arc of a dozen
Islamic states from Pakistan to Morocco. It is the common denominator of bloodshed in Britain, France, Spain, Holland and the United States, all the scenes of terrorist attacks, and Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Germany and Italy, where growing Muslim threats and violence are part of what is now a global
confrontation between Western values and medievalism.

World War III. Every indicator we have says that we should get used to the concept.

Comments

[Debbie]

bonncaruso, you are correct about all you say, specifically Hamas. I thought all funds would be withheld until they removed that clause and accepted Israel's right to exist. The book is a disgrace and so is Carter.

[bonncaruso]

I read the book. As a 13year old in 1976, I was a huge fan of Jimmy Carter and was delighted when he won. Now, 30 years later, I am only disappointed and feel betrayed.

The book is cynical. The book is chock-full of factual inaccuracies, innuendo and downright lies.

If you want a fair representation of the history of the creation of Israel and it's existence since then, then you must read a whole hell of a lot of documentation and not the words of an obviously embittered and failed president from 1976-1980.

Funny, he does not mention that HAMAS is not willing to take the "destruction of Israel" clause out of it's charter. Apparently, swearing the death of an entire nation is ok. He does not mention that the barrier being erected came to be because of 100s of terrorist attacks all over Israel. According to israeli police, there were 20,000 attempts in 2004-2005. 20,000!!! How many americans would sit around and allow this. But of course, since most Israelis are jews, they should just keep their mouths shut and accept the death penalty that the islamic world has pronounced upon them.

The only thing in the press that has been one-sided has been the demonization of Israel, 24/7 over the last years.

I am so digusted with the book that I am seriously considering leaving the democratic party.

[Debbie]

Michael Froman, I'll check those out. Carter is such an anti-American and anti-Israeli it is just dangerous.

[Michael Froman]

Here's some off the cuff links showing that Jimmy carter is bought and paid for by the Saudis and the UAE who are his primary source of funding :D

http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/399

http://www.uaeinteract.com/news/default.asp?cntDisplay=20&ID=290

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/1/14/184725/105

[G. Abram]

I am just glad that most American voters don't read and that they feel guilty that we poor Jews got rounded up to be liquidated during World War II by Hitler, a Christian. So you can buy as many books as you want and give them away, because this garbage won't be read by the people that you gave them to. Ha! Ha!
Some say, "Now that we control a country, we are becoming the 'Nazis' of the Middle East!" I say that's crap! Don't compare us to those Nazis-losers, we Jews successfully liquidated a race of people and the Nazis didn't! You don't see those we liquidated running around putting up their Holocaust centers do you! So call us Zionists instead of Nazis. We are God's chosen people, in other words WE are the Super-race, not those Nazis-losers. And we have the right, from God, to herd the Palestinians into established zones, just like white South Afrikaans did to those Niggers, we want their land, not them. Even if the Palestinians wanted to be part of Israel, a Jewish state can only exist by denying the Palestinians the right to vote in our country, and in order to do that we have to herd them into these "Gettos" and have them set up a "government", just like the Afrikaans did to the Niggers. A Jewish state can not exist in a true democracy like you have in America, because these "Niggers" will vote us out. Of course we will have "token" Palestinians so as to pretend that we are fair, just as long as they are the minority and know their place. The Palestinians should be grateful that we don't liquidate them all, like we did to that other group of people in our past. We would; if there weren't so many damm cameras and news reporters now days making a big stink! I remember seeing this little Palestinian girl, about six-years old, playing with a ball on top of her house. She got knocked about 5 feet when I shot her with my American-made sniper rifle. I'm just glad that my goverment put me through military basic training, like all Israelis, so I can do things like that in cold-blood without any regrets. Not like those hot blooded Palestinians who have to get so emotionally worked-up before blowing themselves up in a crowded marketplace, we can cooly sit in our air-conditioned American-made Apache helicopters and shoot American made guided-missiles to blowup a Palestinian wedding party half a mile away! I meant a Palestinian "Terrorist" wedding party. I'm not a terrorist, I wear a uniform, and my brother is not a terrorist either, because he flys a multi-million dollar helicopter and also wears a uniform. Remember Terrorists are people who can not afford uniforms, multi-million dollar weapon systems, and proper military training in killing other human beings. Ha! Ha! They can barely afford their weapons! and we have all that. That is why, with the help of American training, weapons, and money, we will continue to kill more civilians than those amateur Terrorists!
Anyway, I just wanted to thank the Jewish-Americans for their role in getting the Christian-Americans to feel sorry for us and send billions of dollars each year in supporting our way of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that we deny the Palestinians. Thank you, thank you, thank you! (No wonder the Palestinians hate you...ha, ha, ha!)

[Debbie]

Thank you for that information Michael Froman, but do you have a source, link, or something to back up your statement. I don't doubt that it is true, I would just like to have a reference for people to go read. Thanks.

[Michael Froman]

Sheik Zayed Bin Sultan Al-Nahyan gave Carter 2.5 Million Dollars(that we know of) to become part of the Islamist "Spin Machine" and this is the fruit of that financial seed.

Pure rubbish..

[Mariam]

"He mentions nothing about Israel's right to defend herself against Palestinian suicide bombers, nor does he mention the clear and present danger of a Hamas government."
...That is not true. If you actually read the book, you will know that he does address this, particularly by referring to the more justified wall used by Israel in Gaza, and how such inhumane actions as the wall in fact act against Israel's security. Suicide bombers are born of oppression, and in the interest of the security that Carter makes it very clear the Israelis deserve, the Israeli goverment needs to treat the Palestinians more humanely.

[R.Fishel]

Book Review?
Another unsubstantiated regurgitation that reeks of extreme bias.
Thank GOODNESS that the number of people who buy into this kind of crockery are in the minority.

[FERN SIDMAN]

Ed Davidson, might I say sir that your ignorance of the true nature of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is exceeded only by your arrogance on espousing it. Tragically, I have read Mr. Carter's book thoroughly and listened to his interviews, ad infinitum.
You raise several important points. Number one, you ask what right do the Jewish people have to Israel, or the country that you call Palestine. Secondly, what right did the USA and the UN have to allot this parcel of land to the Jewish people and what right does Israel have to the territories that you called "occupied".
The Jewish people have both a historical and religious claim to this land as stated in the Torah. To those secular Israelis who dispute this claim, then I say to them that they should jump ship and admit that they are thieves who stole this land and should immediately give it back. Jews have lived in the land of Israel since time immemorial. The Jews were forcibly expelled from this land by foreign conquerors and were forced into dispersion. For centuries this land was ruled by the Ottoman empire and subsequently the British mandatory regime. In November of 1947 the UN partioned what was then called Palestine due to the escalating violence perpetrated by the Arabs against the new influx of Jews who came from wartorn Eastern Europe. Now, let's look at this. There was no such thing as "occupied" territories back then and the Arabs called for the blood of Jews. In 1948, the outmanned and severely under equipped Israeli army fought bravely against six Arab armies who were seeking their destruction. With the help of G-d, the Jewish forces defended themselves. From 1948-1967 the Arabs continued to attack and murder Jews and when the Arabs were defeated during the 1967 war, they never got over it. The territories that Israel annexed as a result of this war are now the territories that are in dispute. Had the Arabs defeated Israel in 1967 and succeeded in driving the Jews into the Mediterrean as they vowed, the lands that the Arabs conquered would have been seen as the just rewards for the victor. Since this time, Israel has made every effort to reach out to the Palestinians in peace. Israel no longer holds the Sinai Peninsula and has relinquished Gaza. If you recall, it was Arafat who declined to accept the peace offering of Ehud Barak during peace talks in Camp David with President Clinton. Barak basically offered the entire territory in question. If you recall, the Oslo peace accords were meet with violence and threats from the Palestinians. Today, Olmert is planning to dismantle more settlements in Judea and Samaria. You say that Israel operates on a double standard. Just remember that every time a peace treaty is in the making, there is a barrage of suicide bombings and attacks on Jews. Let's be really honest here. The Palestinians made themselves very clear in the last PA election. They voted Hamas into power. The group that has called for the total eradication of the State of Israel. They brazenly admit that Judea and Samaria will not be sufficient in declaring a Palestinian state. A two state solution is not possible according to the Palestinians. They truly believe that all of Israel from north to south, east to west belongs to the Palestinians and they will not accept anything but that and are willing to continue to shed Jewish blood until they succeed in liberating all of the land of Israel from the Jews. As far as the security wall is concerned, it is being constructed to protect innocent Israeli citizens from their sworn enemy. Of course, in a world replete with double standards when it comes to Jews and Israel,they claim Israel has no right to defend herself. If the PA would lay down their arms and genuinely seek peace, the territories of Judea and Samaria and the Golan Heights would be theirs. Yet, this is not what they want. They want Tel Aviv and Netanya and Haifa and all of Israel proper, so to speak. The world is not for a loss of words when it comes to criticizing Israel, yet the world remains silent when the Palestinians murder Israelis. This is an immutable conflict, one that will not be resolved at any time soon. One thing you should remember, Mr. Ed Davidson, Israel will never surrender. The Jewish people will live on and take comfort in their faith and trust in the Almighty G-d of Israel. The bloodshed should end. I challenge you to condemn Hamas and support the alleged forces of moderation in the Palestinian camp.

[Ed Davidson]

Fern Sidman, I'm sorry to say but I am agitated at the ignorance that you possess. I agree completely with Jimmy Carter, and had he said in his book that Palestinians were the 'evil' terrorists of this world then you would comment by saying "Oh what a great president he was." Had you heard his interviews, or even read them, and carefully read the book, you would understand that Jimmy Carter does not approve of the bombings of INNOCENT men, women, and children but rathers condemns israel OFFICIALS and a MINORITY, of greedingly wanting land that is NOT theirs. What right do the Israels have of invading someone else's land? Why didn't the UN put the Israeli people in the US? Why put them in a land that has been inhabitat by the same people for generations, for centuries? He states that the majority of the Israeli people would prefer to RETURN the land that they TOOK by force back to the Palestinian people but there are those in power who do not wish to return them. I will give you an example, 'the man butchers the sheep and then blames it for the blood it spilled.' The butchers are the Israeli people and the sheep are the Palestinians. And you speak of the Hamas government which does not recognize Israel. Here is what Jimmy Carter had to say about that...

"And after I met with Abbas to talk about a unity government, which he rejected, then I met with a Hamas leader. He's a medical doctor who was elected. He's now in prison, by the way. But he said -- when I insisted that they recognize Israel, he said, "Mr. President, which Israel are you talking about? Are you talking about the Israel that's occupying our land? Are you talking about the Israel that has built a wall around our people? Are you talking about an Israel that deprives us of basic human rights to move from one place to another in our own land?" He said, "We can't recognize that Israel."

I agree with that statement. And when Israel kill innocent Palestinians, women and children, no one says anything about it. When they kidnap a soldier, no one cares. But when the Palestinians kidnap one soldier or kill innocent women and children, Israel and the US cry out "Oh no! What a horrible crime! you savage beasts!" Sir, America supports Israel for its own interests, and its own only. Thousands of Palestinians died while only a handful of Israeli people have died. I love this book because it shows the TRUE nature of the conflict that is in the middle east. The blood could stop, none need to be spilled any longer, if onyl teh Israel people would give back the land they annexed, that they took by force. If only they did that, the Palestinians will grieve no longer. Is that too much to ask? Blood needs to stop spilling, because innocent women and children are dying from both sides, but it wont stop not until the Israeli people stop being selfish.
-ED

[HarmonYA]

Thank to Mr. Carter. His book has provided a valuale history and an insight to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. For so long I (like many other Americans) have thought the Palestinians are the ones that provoked the conflict and did not want peace (for this I would say the American Media and government did a good job to mislead the country, the same way they did for the war in Iraq). My view has totally changed after reading this book and my friends and family who live in Europe are now happy because there will be no more disagreement among us when this subject is brought up.
As an American, I would like to thank the former US president, Mr. Carter, for his courage to bring the truth to the American people.

[FERN SIDMAN]

Debbie,

Thank you for posting my review.

Fern Sidman

[kindlingman]

I bought my copy of this book a week ago. I figured anything that drew this much attention to oppose it must be worth reading. It is.

[Debbie]

Your welcome. Happy New Year.

[nuke gingrich]

ty for the linkage. :)