Thoughts on former President Jimmy Carter's book "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid"

With former President Jimmy Carter being in the news recently, I thought this would be a good time to release my report about Jimmy Carter's book "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid."



Over the course of two weeks in January, I had the chance to get a copy of the book (from the Bargain bin at a B. Dalton Bookstore at Union Station in Washington, DC). I decided to read it because of the heavy criticism this book has received regarding his depiction of Jews, Zionists, and Israeli's, essentially claiming they are the reason that peace has not been achieved.

The book itself is an easy and light read and is very thought provoking, but for all the wrong reasons.

The book makes one defense for Israel, in that he says that Israel's security must be guarenteed; however, that is all he says to "defend" Israel. He makes claims that Israel has not done anything to work towards a lasting peace with the Palestinians, a false claim. He also makes the claim of a "cycle of violence" where there really is no cycle. The only "cycle" is that of Palestinian terrorists blowing themselves up in public areas, killing innocent men, women, and children and Israel responds by either killing a high ranking terrorist in Hamas and/or destroying the home that the terrorist lived in. He also feels that Israel must comply with various resolutions and agreements, such as the U.N. resolutions and Oslo Agreements of 1993. The problem with this claim, as shown in various books ("Nations United: How the United Nations Undermines Israel and the West") and by looking at the original resolutions (UN Resolution 242 being the big one), among other ways (films such as "Relentless: The Struggle for Peace in the Middle East" being one example) show that Israel has been complying with international agreements. Also, that because the Palestinians voted Hamas into power in 2006 that the United States, Israel, and other countries are depriving the Palestinians of a working economy and better living conditions. A look at this "elected" party, Hamas, shows that they are not a political entity, but a terrorist organization. This is clearly best shown in the Hamas Charter when they say, "our struggle against the Jews is extremely wide-ranging and grave, so much so that it will need all the loyal efforts we can wield, to be followed by further steps and reinforced by successive battalions from the multifarious Arab and Islamic world, until the enemies are defeated and Allah’s victory prevails." The biggest claim is that the security fence is really an "Apartheid Wall" meant to separate Palestinian from Palestinian. The truth is that this "wall" is really a fence meant to separate Palestinian terrorists from Israel.

In the end, while the former President may not have had it in mind, his work comes across anti-Semitic, saying that the Jews and Israelis as the biggest obstacle to peace.