[WCUSP] Fwd: APARTHEID, PALESTINE, PEACE, AND JIMMY CARTER

Wed Dec 13 06:45:45 CST 2006

--- MAS INFO <masnet-service at maslists.org> wrote:

> From: "MAS INFO" <masnet-service at maslists.org>
> Subject: APARTHEID, PALESTINE, PEACE, AND JIMMY
> CARTER
> Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2006 15:40:01 -0500
> To: roweenayvonne at yahoo.com
> 
> FROM THE DIRECTORS DESK
> 
> Mahdi Bray, Executive Director
> MAS Freedom Foundation
> 
> Apartheid, Palestine, Peace, and Jimmy Carter
> 
> WASHINGTON, DC - Dec. 12, 2006 (MASNET) In October
> 2002, I addressed the Second National Student
> Conference on Palestine. The conference was held on
> the Ann Harbor campus of the University of Michigan.
> 
> It was there that I proclaimed that Israel was an
> apartheid state. My statement was not based on any
> anti-Jewish sentiment or animus towards Israelis.
> Rather it was based on my experience of over
> half-a-century as an African-American who had lived
> under U.S. southern segregation and experienced
> apartheid up-close and personal. It was also based
> on my work as an activist in the Free South Africa
> movement.
> 
> Needless to say, because of my statements I endured
> tremendous castigation from several Jewish groups
> and pro-Israeli activists. My comments even strained
> cherished personal relationships with some
> individuals that I have known for years in the
> Jewish, Christian, and Peace community.
> 
> I realized then what I realize now, it is incredibly
> difficult in the U.S. to have real dialogue, debate,
> or criticism concerning the Israeli occupation of
> Palestine without being labeled an anti-Semite,
> disloyal, terrorist, or attacked ad hominem.
> 
> I asked then as I ask today, "Why?"
> 
> Why is it, more often than not, easier to have a
> debate about the legality and morality of the
> occupation of Palestine in Tel Aviv than in
> Washington? What price do we as Americans pay for
> refusing to even discuss the geopolitical
> significance of our current one-sided foreign policy
> and strategic alliance with Israel?
> 
> The obvious price is the deferment of the dream of
> peace that many on both sides desperately desire.
> Langston Hughes, a great American poet, asked a
> question about dreams in one of his poems saying,
> "What happens to a dream deferred? It dries up like
> a raisin in the sun."
> 
> Many dreamers of peace in the Middle East are
> calling for America to wake up from the slumber that
> has for decades been a nightmare for Palestinians;
> for America to resist the dark shadows of
> intimidation from powerful interest groups, and see
> in the full light of day the humanity of the
> Palestinian people and the injustices heaped upon
> them.  And finally, to speak boldly today about the
> truth of the plight of the Palestinian people, even
> though it may contradict everything we spoke or
> thought yesterday.
> 
> Another dreamer, Martin Luther King Jr. once said,
> "On some positions a coward has asked the question
> is it safe? Expediency asks the question, is it
> politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular?
> But conscience asks the question is it right? And
> there come a time when one must take a position that
> is neither safe nor politic nor popular but he must
> take it because conscience tells him it is right."
> 
> It is in this spirit that I highly recommend the
> reading of former President Jimmy Carter's book,
> Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.
> 
> Below are comments by Jimmy Carter concerning his
> book:
> 
> Israel, Palestine, Peace and Apartheid
> Jimmy Carter
> Tuesday December 12, 2006
> Guardian
> 
> 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 past 30
> years, I have witnessed and experienced the severe
> restraints on any free and balanced discussion of
> the facts. This reluctance to criticize policies of
> the Israeli government is due to 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 deign to visit the Palestinian cities of
> Ramallah, Nablus, Hebron, Gaza City or 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 US exercise similar self-restraint,
> quite contrary to private assessments expressed
> forcefully by their correspondents in the Holy Land.
> 
> My new book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, 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. It is already possible to judge public and
> media reaction. Sales are brisk, and I have had
> interesting interviews on TV. 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. Some reviews
> posted on Amazon.com call me "anti-Semitic," and
> others accuse the book of "lies" and "distortions".
> A former Carter Centre 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. 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 black people 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 acts of
> terrorism or violence against innocent civilians,
> and I present information about the 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 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 goal might be motivated to express their
> views, even publicly, and perhaps in concert. I
> would be glad to help with that effort.
> 
> Jimmy Carter was a U.S. President from 1977-81. His
> book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid was published
> in November 2006. This is an edited version of an
> article that first appeared in the Los Angeles
> Times. (carterweb at emory.nu)
> 
> To learn more visit:
>
http://books.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329660067-99939,00.html
> 
>
-------------------------------------------------------------
> The Freedom Foundation is the public affairs arm of
> the Muslim American Society (MAS), a national
> grassroots religious, social, and educational
> organization. MAS is America's largest grassroots
> Muslim organization with over 50 chapters
> nationwide. Learn more at www.masnet.org
>
-------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> MAS Freedom Foundation
> 1050 17th Street NW, Suite 600
> Washington, DC 20036
> Tel: (202) 496-1288
> Fax: (202) 463-0686
> URL: http://www.masnet.org/index_publicaffairs.asp
> Email: MAS4Freedom at aol.com
>
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