[WCUSP] LATimes: Jimmy Carter "Speaking franklly about Israel and Palestine"

[KATHARLOW at aol.com]

_http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-carter8dec08,0,7999232.s
tory?coll=la-home-commentary_ 
(http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-carter8dec08,0,7999232.story?coll=la-home-commentary) 
Speaking frankly about Israel and Palestine
Jimmy Carter says his recent book is drawing knee-jerk  accusations of 
anti-Israel bias.
By Jimmy Carter
JIMMY CARTER was the  39th president of the United States. His newest book is 
"Palestine: Peace Not  Apartheid," published last month. He is scheduled to 
sign books Monday at  Vroman's in Pasadena.

December 8, 2006

I SIGNED A CONTRACT with  Simon & Schuster two years ago to write a book 
about the Middle East, based  on my personal observations as the Carter Center 
monitored three elections in  Palestine and on my consultations with Israeli 
political leaders and peace  activists.

We covered every Palestinian community in 1996, 2005 and 2006,  when Yasser 
Arafat and later Mahmoud Abbas were elected president and members of  
parliament were chosen. The elections were almost flawless, and turnout was very  high —
 except in East Jerusalem, where, under severe Israeli restraints, only  
about 2% of registered voters managed to cast ballots.

The many  controversial issues concerning Palestine and the path to peace for 
Israel are  intensely debated among Israelis and throughout other nations — 
but not in the  United States. For the last 30 years, I have witnessed and 
experienced the  severe restraints on any free and balanced discussion of the 
facts. This  reluctance to criticize any policies of the Israeli government is 
because of the  extraordinary lobbying efforts of the American-Israel Political 
Action Committee  and the absence of any significant contrary voices.

It would be almost  politically suicidal for members of Congress to espouse a 
balanced position  between Israel and Palestine, to suggest that Israel 
comply with international  law or to speak in defense of justice or human rights 
for Palestinians. Very few  would ever deign to visit the Palestinian cities of 
Ramallah, Nablus, Hebron,  Gaza City or even Bethlehem and talk to the 
beleaguered residents. What is even  more difficult to comprehend is why the 
editorial pages of the major newspapers  and magazines in the United States exercise 
similar self-restraint, quite  contrary to private assessments expressed quite 
forcefully by their  correspondents in the Holy Land. 

With some degree of reluctance and some  uncertainty about the reception my 
book would receive, I used maps, text and  documents to describe the situation 
accurately and to analyze the only possible  path to peace: Israelis and 
Palestinians living side by side within their own  internationally recognized 
boundaries. These options are consistent with key  U.N. resolutions supported by 
the U.S. and Israel, official American policy  since 1967, agreements 
consummated by Israeli leaders and their governments in  1978 and 1993 (for which they 
earned Nobel Peace Prizes), the Arab League's  offer to recognize Israel in 
2002 and the International Quartet's "Roadmap for  Peace," which has been 
accepted by the PLO and largely rejected by  Israel.

The book is devoted to circumstances and events in Palestine and  not in 
Israel, where democracy prevails and citizens live together and  are legally 
guaranteed equal status.

Although I have spent only a week or  so on a book tour so far, it is already 
possible to judge public and media  reaction. Sales are brisk, and I have had 
interesting interviews on TV,  including "Larry King Live," "Hardball," "Meet 
the Press," "The NewsHour With  Jim Lehrer," the "Charlie Rose" show, C-SPAN 
and others. But I have seen few  news stories in major newspapers about what I 
have written.

Book reviews  in the mainstream media have been written mostly by 
representatives of Jewish  organizations who would be unlikely to visit the occupied 
territories, and their  primary criticism is that the book is anti-Israel. Two 
members of Congress have  been publicly critical. Incoming House Speaker Nancy 
Pelosi for instance, issued  a statement (before the book was published) saying 
that "he does not speak for  the Democratic Party on Israel." Some reviews 
posted on Amazon.com call me  "anti-Semitic," and others accuse the book of 
"lies" and "distortions." A former  Carter Center fellow has taken issue with it, 
and Alan Dershowitz called the  book's title "indecent." 

Out in the real world, however, the response  has been overwhelmingly 
positive. I've signed books in five stores, with more  than 1,000 buyers at each 
site. I've had one negative remark — that I should be  tried for treason — and 
one caller on C-SPAN said that I was an anti-Semite. My  most troubling 
experience has been the rejection of my offers to speak, for  free, about the book on 
university campuses with high Jewish enrollment and to  answer questions from 
students and professors. I have been most encouraged by  prominent Jewish 
citizens and members of Congress who have thanked me privately  for presenting the 
facts and some new ideas. 

The book describes the  abominable oppression and persecution in the occupied 
Palestinian territories,  with a rigid system of required passes and strict 
segregation between  Palestine's citizens and Jewish settlers in the West Bank. 
An enormous  imprisonment wall is now under construction, snaking through 
what is left of  Palestine to encompass more and more land for Israeli settlers. 
In many ways,  this is more oppressive than what blacks lived under in South 
Africa during  apartheid. I have made it clear that the motivation is not 
racism but the desire  of a minority of Israelis to confiscate and colonize choice 
sites in Palestine,  and then to forcefully suppress any objections from the 
displaced citizens.  Obviously, I condemn any acts of terrorism or violence 
against innocent  civilians, and I present information about the terrible 
casualties on both  sides.

The ultimate purpose of my book is to present facts about the  Middle East 
that are largely unknown in America, to precipitate discussion and  to help 
restart peace talks (now absent for six years) that can lead to  permanent peace 
for Israel and its neighbors. Another hope is that Jews and  other Americans 
who share this same goal might be motivated to express their  views, even 
publicly, and perhaps in concert. I would be glad to help with that  effort. 



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