Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid
by Jimmy Carter
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Book Reviews of Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid
Book Review: A book of history, stories and scholarly work written with objectivity and passion
Summary: 5 Stars
The Israel- Palestine mess is heartbreaking and frustrating for people who care for both peoples. It is also very complicated - so much history and so many groups of people involved. It is not easy to systematically understand the region by reading a few articles or by watching a few TV programs. First, some people get so emotional and opinionated that they are unable to present an objective picture. Even some who try to tell stories objectively are unable to tell the whole truth. It requires integrity, deep knowledge and passion to elucidate the conflict and present a just and practical solution. Integrity, passion, deep knowledge, that is President Carter.
President Carter does not gain all his knowledge just from his voluminous reading. Much of his knowledge is from his involvement in peace treaty negotiation, personal dealing with both Israel and Arab political leaders and his friendship with many of them. He probably commands genuine respect and admiration among the leaders and peoples in that region more than anyone else. I have to emphasize the word genuine because some people in power may seem to garner a lot respect, but that type of respect is more for the power than for the person.
This is a history book, a storybook and a scholarly essay. It will help you gain unbiased perspective of the Middle East affairs. President carter has been encouraging people to go to Palestine and check the facts by themselves.
Ironically, I got to know this book from the media talking about the controversies over this book. After reading this book, I feel that one has to use microscope to pick some sentences and take them out of context as evidence of President Carter's bias against Israel. I have been irritated by many people commenting or making conclusions without carefully reading the book. I remember a high-profile panel was commenting on issues related to this book. All of them either did not read the book or read only a part of the book. Then incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi eagerly issued a statement saying that President Carter "does not speak for the Democratic Party on Israel" even before the book was published. It seems there is some sort of campaign to criticize the book and many people engage themselves in the campaign simply because it seems to be on their side. All of these offer solid evidence that a book like this is in great need. It seems the main public is different from the media and the elites such as Bill Clinton who wrote a letter to the American Jewish Committee thanking them for criticizing the book. Wherever President Carter goes to talk about this book, he receives standing ovations and long applauses. The support for him far exceeds his critics. I suspect the publicized criticism reflects where big money goes, not the mainstream public thinks.
The book is mainly to present the facts and hopefully to stimulate a more balanced discussion, and provide advice in resolving the conflicts in principle. I doubt the leaders in the region will heed the advice. President Carter is the most underutilized political leader for resolving the problems in the Middle East considering his passion, reputation, experience and wisdom. Ironically, Tony Blair, the co-leader of the Iraq War against by the vast majority of Arabs, is the envoy for the Middle East Quartet. Considering how articulate Tony Blair is and his questionable integrity, and that we may hear a lot from him about the Middle East in the coming years, this book is especially valuable and timely. I strongly recommend reading this book before hearing anything about the Middle East from other people with uncertain integrity, less experience or lack of genuine love for both Israelis and Palestinians.
Book Review: Great book learn the truth about Israel!!!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I read this book and it is the most unbiased explanation of the world problems Israel is causing by persecution of the Palestine people.
My POOR MISINFORMED Fellows who rate this book low learn the facts about Israel by reading this book,here are some FACTS:
A. Abraham was born in Caldeh (about 5700 years ago)and went to Arabia(Mecca)where he had Ismael (from his dark skin wife Hajar probably from Eitupia in Africa)and then Ishaq (from Sarah from Arabia).
B. Jews or "Sons of Israel" are one of the 13 Arab Tribes WHO CLAIMED to be from Sarah and since "Whiter Skin" better than other ARABs, who Todays JEWS CLAIM to be from Hajar (the Darker Skin One).
C. Most Palestinians Are Greek & Phenisions and came to Palestine over 7000 years ago.
D. When SONS of ISRAEL due to their STRONG RACISM were FINALLY KICKED out of ARABIA by other 12 ARAB Tribes, they ended up on Judiah (a very little part of Palestine (about 4000 years ago) and later in Egypt (about 3500 years ago).
E. About 3000 years Moses got the Jews out of Egypt and they evetually got back to Judiah.
F. For most part many of the people who lived in Palestine (including a high % of Jews) became Christians after JEWS PUT Christ on CROSS and his reserection.
G. Many of Palestinians and Christians and Jews coverted to Islam about 1400 years ago. Islam was the religion that spread among other 12 Arab Tribes and many other races in Middle-East from another one of the over 25000 Abrahamic Profets.
H. Moslems believe in the Same ABRAHAM, Moses and Jesus that both Christians and Jews believe in. Their only addition is that MOHAMMED (from "The Sonss 0f Quoraish" another Arab Tribe) is the last of the ABRAHAMIC Profets. Their book has the same stories as the Bible and Torah.
I. Before 1948, less than 20% of Palestinians were Jewish, about the same % were Christian and the rest were Moslem.
J. By the forcing the European Jews to move to Palestine and destruction of over 228 Palestinian Towns and Villages, British and other Europeans had only onr thing in mind: "Get RID of their JEWISH Population" and the burden to be carried by Palestinians.
K. ZIONISM is NOT Judism, same as Nazism is Not GERMANISm. IT IS ONLY a OLDEST and SICKEST RACIST IDEOLOGY on Earth, based on ONE BELIEFE:
"Children of the WHITE SARAH were the CHOSEN PEOPLE"
L. Our 60 year Support of ISRAEL, the MOST FANATICAL RACISM of ALL HUMAN HISTORY has created all these FANATICS in the MOSLEM WORLD. We Must REALISE that PLO was Created after the 1968 WAR, HESBOLLAH was established after the BARBARIC INVASION of LEBONAN by ISRAEL in 1982. HAMAS was CREATED after ISRAEL's Playing with PLO and NOT GOING THROUGH with the Agreement they made with PLO in OSLO in late 80s.
SO WE MUST understand that for 60 years OUR TAXES have SUPPORTED the MOST BARBARIC REGIME In the MANKIND's HISTORY and not only has FAILED to secure any PEACE in the region; but also has CREATED an EQUALLY FANATICAL Backlash to EQUALIZE the FANATISM showed by ISRAEL.
WE (and our generations to come) WILL PAY for this ERROR in Judgment and our lack of CARE to UNDERSTAND that No Matter how many of our Congressmen and Senators are paid by the ZIONIST LOBBY which RUNS most of our Corporations, News Media and government Institutions.
Even though, we have never cared for what the Europeans and Asians think of US, the WORLD DOES MATTER and the WORLD IS WATCHING.
There WILL be Other Noremburgs.
Not a single Empire that lost its MORAL GROUND lasted for long, this one WILL NOT either.
Book Review: Reluctantly giving this book a fourth star...
Summary: 4 Stars
I was prepared to dislike this book. In fact, I began to dislike this book almost immediately: here was a naive, bible-thumping state governor telling tales of his first visit to the "holy-land". His enchantment with the place is understandable; he is a sunday-school teacher. His enchantment with his hosts made me a bit queasy. But I'll have to give him a pass on that. He was then as much a product of the propaganda put forth by the mainstream media as any of us are today, so when they took him up to the Golan and he saw the poor little kibbutzim below he felt their pain in the way that one who doesn't know the whole story is able to feel the pain of the Israeli.
Three years later he was elected president. What he (and this book) lacked in historical background information, he made up for by even-handedly assessing current events and proposing solutions. This book is a fairly thorough accounting of the recent (1973-present) history of the conflict. It is far from perfect. Carter was a president of the United States after all. In much the way that George W. Bush declares any Iraqi attack on its occupiers "terrorism", so Carter refuses to let go of this epithet which de-legitimizes honorable Palestinian resistance to their Israeli overlords. Needless to say, the IDF never gets branded with the "T"-word, though they richly deserve it. Such are the constraints of having once captained the ship of empire.
That failing aside, Carter does an admirable job illustrating just how simple the issues in this conflict really are.
In summary:
--Israel takes the Sinai (later returned to Egypt), West Bank, Gaza and the Golan during the 1967 war, a war it initiated.
--The U.N. Security Council soon thereafter issues Resolution 242 reiterating the inadmissibility of territory gained by force, calling on Israel to pull out of the occupied territories.
--Rather than comply with 242, Israel chose to build settlements and the building continues to this day.
--All Palestinian resistance to occupation has been met with strong counter-force--much of which is disproportionate to the original "offense"--and severe restrictions of movement, which has such far-reaching effects that the only proper term for it is "apartheid"
--The pinnacle of this apartheid system is the "security-fence"/imprisonment-wall which attempts to make an end-run around negotiated peace by unilaterally annexing Palestinian territories and doing so in such a way that after its completion, the West Bank will not even be a viable state.
Pretty surprising stuff from an ex-president. I'm impressed.
That said, if one is looking for minute details about how each peace initiative failed, one will have to look in another book. But in the end, one does not really need the minute details in order to find the cause: it is Israel's failure to comply with U.N. resolution 242 which precludes peace. As Carter makes clear, each attempt at peace is derailed because Israel is demanding the result in advance of the negotiation. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who finds it surreal that Israel would demand, among myriad other things, recognition "as a jewish state" in exchange for simple compliance with international law. Is it so difficult to see why they (the Palestinians) would hesitate to recognize an outlaw state? Apparently, it is in the U.S. With this book, maybe not for much longer. One of President Carter's stated reasons for writing this tome was an expansion of debate on the Palestine issue--and of US complicity in the situation. It is certainly doing just that.
Book Review: Useful study of the conflict
Summary: 5 Stars
The 39th President of the United States has written an even-handed and objective survey of the Israel-Palestine conflict.
He claims that the USA has a vital role to play: "Strong support for peace talks must come from the United States" but, as he admits, "The United States stands almost alone in its undeviating backing of Israel." With this bias for Israel and against Palestine, the US state cannot be an honest broker, nor can its allies, like Blair and the EU.
Israel's settlements and occupation are illegal under international law, under Security Council Resolutions supported by both Israel and the USA, for example Resolution 242, which requires Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories. Israel's Supreme Court acknowledges that Israel holds the West Bank `in belligerent occupation'.
The Palestinians now recognise Israel's right to exist in its 1967 borders. Carter notes, "there was a sustained commitment by Israel's government to avoid full compliance with the Oslo Agreement or with key U.N. Resolutions 242 and 338." As he notes, after making various agreements at the 1998 Wye Conference, "the Israeli cabinet voted to postpone execution of the Wye River Memorandum." Israel still rejects the Oslo Agreement's key provisions and it refuses to recognise the Palestinian National Authority.
After the Taba talks of January 2001, Carter writes, "It was later claimed that the Palestinians rejected a `generous offer' put forward by Prime Minister Barak with Israel keeping only 5 percent of the West Bank. The fact is that no such offers were ever made." The Palestinians accept the Road Map, while Israel rejects it. As Carter sums up, "In order to achieve its goals, Israel has decided to avoid any peace negotiations."
Carter told the Israeli Knesset in 1979, "The people support a settlement. Political leaders are the obstacle to peace." A consistent majority of Israelis back withdrawing from Palestinian territory; similarly a consistent majority of Palestinians back a two-state peace agreement with Israel. 62% of Israelis favour direct talks with Hamas.
Carter writes, "The overriding problem is that, for more than a quarter century, the actions of some Israeli leaders have been in direct conflict with the official policies of the United States, the international community, and their own negotiated agreements. ... Israel's continued control and colonization of Palestinian land have been the primary obstacles to a comprehensive agreement in the Holy Land. ... Two other interrelated factors have contributed to the perpetuation of violence and regional upheaval; the condoning of illegal Israeli actions from a submissive White House and U.S. Congress during recent years, and the deference with which other international leaders permit this unofficial U.S policy in the Middle East to prevail."
The US state has abandoned the peace process. Carter concludes, "The United States is squandering international prestige and goodwill and intensifying global anti-American terrorism by unofficially condoning or abetting the Israeli confiscation and colonization of Palestinian territories. It will be a tragedy - for the Israelis, the Palestinians, and the world - if peace is rejected and a system of oppression, apartheid, and sustained violence is permitted to prevail."
Book Review: Carter is right on the money; we must solve this problem
Summary: 5 Stars
President Carter really knows the situation in Palestine/Israel, and his advice is right on the money.
We must solve this problem, guaranteeing both security for Israel and security and a viable state for Palestinians. Israel must withdraw to the 1967 borders, with a little leeway for negotiated swaps of land.
Israel must end the occupation. Little Palestinian children should not be subjected to endless curfews, or tanks in their streets which shoot at anyone out during these 24-hr, several-day curfews. Palestinian olive groves should not be "just taken away" by rabid Israeli settlers who claim all the land. After all, those olives are the Palestinian farmers livelihood.
I checked out "terrorist" events on the internet, and found that today's events started in 1968 after Israel started confiscating land in the 22% of Mandate Palestine that the Palestinians had agreed to accept as a state. Hamas and Hezbollah are, in my opinion, resistance groups who have not attacked any other states, but attack the Israeli occupation of their land. (That's the 22%, not the whole of Mandate Palestine. That leaves Israel with 78%. WHY WASN'T 78% ENOUGH???)
Hezbollah's attack on the Marines in Beirut was considered by them to be resisting American "occupation" of Lebanon. Their recent capture of Israeli soldiers and their killing of 8 others was intended as a military attack against a clearly-military target, meant to secure an exchange of prisoners. The fact that Israel unleashed a brutal, overreactive, unscrupulously-destructive attack on half of Lebanon merely shows what state terror is like, and has been like, for the years since the 1967 occupation started.
Israel is clearly in the wrong here, and--even worse--all this slaughter in Gaza won't stop the rocket attacks, but only exacerbates the hatred. In fairness, Palestinians have fired about 1700 rockets into Israel since September 2005, and Israel has retaliated with 15,000 rounds into Gaza. Obviously the Israeli rockets are more accurate and deadly. In two years from June '04 to July '6, 14 Israeli civilians, 6 of them innocent children, have been killed by Palestinian Qassam rockets. But in only 4 weeks(!) from June 26 to July 24 of 2006, Israeli actions caused the deaths of 126 Palestinians, 63 of them civilians, and 29 children. The UN estimates that 450 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since only the end of June this year.
The responsibility for ending this mess is primarily Israel's because they are the only actor capable of ending the occupation. The US must return to being an honest broker and stop confusing resistance against occupation with terror.
After all, the Reagan administration called Nelson Mandela a terrorist because he resisted the dominance of whites in South Africa.
And, as for President Carter's choice of title, no less an expert than Archbishop Desmond Tutu called the Israeli occupation apartheid: "...if I were to change the names..., what is happening in the Gaza Strip and West Bank could describe events in South Africa."
GREAT BOOK! NOW LET'S SEE THE US ACT UPON IT! Before terrorism accelerates even more. Why build new terrorists when you are capable of solving the problem by ending the illegal occupations? In Israel and Iraq. It is suicide to do otherwise.