[WCUSP] Apartheid as our frame? Dems Repudiate Carter Book

[Joyce McLean]

can we begin with letters to Pelosi, Conyers, Dean etc......we've been 
there....our sisters live there...we read the regs on who can come and who 
can't and who can live where.....give us another term please that describes 
this unjust situation....................
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Libby or Mort Frank" <lmfrank1 at verizon.net>
To: "Barbara Taft" <beejayssite at yahoo.com>; <kzaidan at wilpf.org>; 
<wcusp at wilpf.org>
Sent: Friday, October 27, 2006 4:44 AM
Subject: Re: [WCUSP] Apartheid as our frame? Dems Repudiate Carter Book


> Okay, here's my personal opinion:
>
> Yes, I strongly agree that Israel is an apartheid state.  But there is one
> good reason to not refer to it that way -- the need to reach people who 
> will
> turn off when we use the term.  We must describe the awful conditions 
> Israel
> is putting the Palestinians under, and do it in the strongest way 
> possible.
> We can do it without using the term.
>
> The American Jewish community is a tremendous active force for much that 
> is
> good in our country.  It also presents a tremendous obstacle to changing
> U.S. policy regarding Palestine and Israel.   That obstacle must be 
> removed.
> A mass defection of American Jews from the current U.S./Israeli policy 
> would
> be powerful.  We must be honest and frank in what we say, but find the 
> ways
> of speaking that will reach that community and others who are allied to 
> it.
>
> Libby
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Barbara Taft" <beejayssite at yahoo.com>
> To: <kzaidan at wilpf.org>; <wcusp at wilpf.org>
> Sent: Thursday, October 26, 2006 12:11 PM
> Subject: Re: [WCUSP] Apartheid as our frame? Dems Repudiate Carter Book
>
>
> I can think of two good reasons to call it apartheid:
>
> 1)  South Africans, both Black and White, have visited the Occupied
> Territories and
>    declared them to be "worse than apartheid".
>
> 2)  Many years ago, I heard a White South African speak about apartheid. 
> He
> told
>    the audience that its correct pronunciation is "apart-hate" and that it
> is
>    very descriptive.  He said, "You keep them apart because you hate".
> Especially
>    now, with the Separation Wall and Jews-only roads, it is an apt
> description.
>
> Barb T.
>
> --- Kate Zaidan <kzaidan at wilpf.org> wrote:
>
>
> ---------------------------------
>    This article raises some interesting strategical questions in terms
> ofchallenging US policy in
> the Middle East. To me, it makes the case thatApartheid is a word that the
> peace movement needs to
> adopt as theframe to describe the conflict.
>
> I think that we need to make the case to our legislators, especiallythose
> that we consider
> "friendly", that the situation is indeedapartheid and that policy must be
> constructed out of that
> framework.The US Government has taken a stand against apartheid before,
> andabsolutely would not
> have done so without the hard work of theanti-apartheid movement.
>
> Apartheid is more than a word. It's a story. Stories have the power 
> toshape
> the way that our
> decision makers see the world. Apartheid is avector that carries this 
> story
> and makes it such that
> we, as activists,don't have to understand every nuanced dimension of 
> policy,
> we justhave to set
> the frame and make it such that policy is formed out ofthat frame.
>
> And from this article, it seems that the precedent has already been setby 
> a
> powerful political
> figure, and we, as activists should pick up theball where Jimmy Carter 
> left
> off and take
> advantages of the existingtensions in the democratic party.
>
> I'll send out a brief history on the sanctions that the US 
> Governmentimposed
> on South Africa
> separately.
>
> Kate
>
> Dems Repudiate Carter Book
>
> Jennifer Siegel | Fri. Oct 27, 2006
>
> Top Democrats are rushing to repudiate former President
> Carter'scontroversial new book on the
> Middle East, in which he accuses theIsraeli government of maintaining an
> apartheid system.
>
> Two key party leaders - Democratic National Committee Chairman HowardDean,
> party chairman, and
> House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi - andseveral congressmen issued
> statements Monday saying that
> the book,"Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," does not represent their views 
> on
> theJewish state.
>
> "It is wrong to suggest that the Jewish people would support agovernment 
> in
> Israel or anywhere
> else that institutionalizes ethnicallybased oppression, and Democrats 
> reject
> that allegation
> vigorously,"Pelosi wrote in a statement. "With all due respect to former
> PresidentCarter, he does
> not speak for the Democratic Party on Israel."
>
> Carter's book is being published by Simon & Schuster and is slatedfor
> release November 14. In an
> advanced draft copy of the work,obtained by the Forward, the former
> president asserts that
> Israel'scurrent policies in the Palestinian territories constitute "a 
> system
> ofapartheid, with two
> peoples occupying the same land but completelyseparated from each other,
> with Israelis totally
> dominant andsuppressing violence by depriving Palestinians of their basic
> humanrights." He argues
> that Israel's settlement policy is principally toblame for the failure of
> peace initiatives in the
> Middle East.
>
> Dean also took issue with Carter's assessment.
>
> "While I have tremendous respect for former President Carter, 
> Ifundamentally
> disagree and do not
> support his analysis of Israel andthe Israeli-Palestinian conflict," Dean
> wrote in a statement.
> "On thisissue President Carter speaks for himself, the opinions in his 
> book
> arehis own, they are
> not the views or position of the Democratic Party. Iand other Democrats 
> will
> continue to stand
> with Israel in its battleagainst terrorism and for a lasting peace with 
> its
> neighbors."
>
> Several Democratic members of New York's House delegation - Reps.
> SteveIsrael, Charlie Rangel and
> Jerrold Nadler - also have issued statementscriticizing Carter's book, as
> did Rep. John Conyers,
> Jr., a MichiganDemocrat who is often criticized by members of the Jewish
> community forhis failure
> to support Israel in a certain instance. Last summer,Conyers was one of
> eight House members who
> did not vote for aresolution backing the Jewish state in the wake of the
> Hezbollahattacks.
>
> In his statement, Conyers said that Carter's use of the word"apartheid" 
> went
> too far.
>
> "I cannot agree with the book's title and its implications 
> aboutapartheid,"
> the lawmaker wrote in
> a statement. "I recently called theformer president to express my concerns
> about the title of the
> book,and to request that the title be changed."
>
> Fri. Oct 27, 2006
>
>
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