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Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid
by Jimmy Carter
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Hardcover
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Following his #1 New York Times bestseller, Our Endangered Values, the former president, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, offers an assessment of what must be done to bring permanent peace to Israel with dignity and justice to Palestine.President Carter, who was able to negotiate peace between Israel and Egypt, has remained deeply involved in Middle East affairs since leaving the White House. He has stayed in touch with the major players from all sides in the conflict and has made numerous trips to the Holy Land, most recently as an observer in the Palestinian elections of 2005 and 2006. In this book President Carter shares his intimate knowledge of the history of the Middle East and his personal experiences with the principal actors, and he addresses sensitive political issues many American officials avoid. Pulling no punches, Carter prescribes steps that must be taken for the two states to share the Holy Land without a system of apartheid or the constant fear of terrorism. The general parameters of a long-term, two-state agreement are well known, the president writes. There will be no substantive and permanent peace for any peoples in this troubled region as long as Israel is violating key U.N. resolutions, official American policy, and the international "road map" for peace by occupying Arab lands and oppressing the Palestinians. Except for mutually agreeable negotiated modifications, Israel's official pre-1967 borders must be honored. As were all previous administrations since the founding of Israel, U.S. government leaders must be in the forefront of achieving this long-delayed goal of a just agreement that both sides can honor. Palestine Peace Not Apartheid is a challenging, provocative, and courageous book.
The crowning achievement of Jimmy Carter's presidency was the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt, and he has continued his public and private diplomacy ever since, winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his decades of work for peace, human rights, and international development. He has been a tireless author since then as well, writing bestselling books on his childhood, his faith, and American history and politics, but in Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, he has returned to the Middle East and to the question of Israel's peace with its neighbors--in particular, how Israeli sovereignty and security can coexist permanently and peacefully with Palestinian nationhood. It's a rare honor to ask questions of a former president, and we are grateful that President Carter was able to take the time in between his work with his wife, Rosalynn, for the Carter Center and Habitat for Humanity and his many writing projects to speak with us about his hopes for the region and his thoughts on the book. A big thank you to President Carter for granting our request for an interview.
An Interview with President Jimmy Carter
 Q: What has been the importance of your own faith in your continued interest in peace in the Middle East?
A: As a Christian, I worship the Prince of Peace. One of my preeminent commitments has been to bring peace to the people who live in the Holy Land. I made my best efforts as president and still have this as a high priority.
Q: A common theme in your years of Middle East diplomacy has been that leaders on both sides have often been more open to discussion and change in private than in public. Do you think that's still the case?
A: Yes. This is why private and intense negotiations can be successful. More accurately, however, my premise has been that the general public (Jewish, Christian, and Muslim) are more eager for peace than their political leaders. For instance, a recent poll done by the Hebrew University in Jerusalem showed that 58% of Israelis and 81% of the Palestinians favor a comprehensive settlement similar to the Roadmap for Peace or the Saudi proposal adopted by all 23 Arab nations and recently promoted by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Tragically, there have been no substantive peace talks during the past six years.
Q: How have the war in Iraq and the increased strength of Iran (and the declarations of their leaders against Israel) changed the conditions of the Israel-Palestine question?
A: Other existing or threatened conflicts in the region greatly increase the importance of Israel's having peace agreements with its neighbors, to minimize overall Arab animosity toward both Israel and the United States and reduce the threat of a broader conflict.
Q: Your use of the term "apartheid" has been a lightning rod in the response to your book. Could you explain your choice? Were you surprised by the reaction?
A: The book is about Palestine, the occupied territories, and not about Israel. Forced segregation in the West Bank and terrible oppression of the Palestinians create a situation accurately described by the word. I made it plain in the text that this abuse is not based on racism, but on the desire of a minority of Israelis to confiscate and colonize Palestinian land. This violates the basic humanitarian premises on which the nation of Israel was founded. My surprise is that most critics of the book have ignored the facts about Palestinian persecution and its proposals for future peace and resorted to personal attacks on the author. No one could visit the occupied territories and deny that the book is accurate.
Q: You write in the book that "the peace process does not have a life of its own; it is not self-sustaining." What would you recommend that the next American president do to revive it?
A: I would not want to wait two more years. It is encouraging that President George W. Bush has announced that peace in the Holy Land will be a high priority for his administration during the next two years. On her January trip to the region, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has called for early U.S.-Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. She has recommended the 2002 offer of the Arab nations as a foundation for peace: full recognition of Israel based on a return to its internationally recognized borders. This offer is compatible with official U.S. Government policy, previous agreements approved by Israeli governments in 1978 and 1993, and with the International Quartet's "roadmap for peace." My book proposes that, through negotiated land swaps, this "green line" border be modified to permit a substantial number of Israelis settlers to remain in Palestine. With strong U.S. pressure, backed by the U.N., Russia, and the European Community, Israelis and Palestinians would have to come to the negotiating table.
1/18/2007
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From Publishers Weekly
The term "good-faith" is almost inappropriate when applied to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a bloody struggle interrupted every so often by negotiations that turn out to be anything but honest. Nonetheless, thirty years after his first trip to the Mideast, former President Jimmy Carter still has hope for a peaceful, comprehensive solution to the region's troubles, delivering this informed and readable chronicle as an offering to the cause. An engineer of the 1978 Camp David Accords and 2002 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, Carter would seem to be a perfect emissary in the Middle East, an impartial and uniting diplomatic force in a fractured land. Not entirely so. Throughout his work, Carter assigns ultimate blame to Israel, arguing that the country's leadership has routinely undermined the peace process through its obstinate, aggressive and illegal occupation of territories seized in 1967. He's decidedly less critical of Arab leaders, accepting their concern for the Palestinian cause at face value, and including their anti-Israel rhetoric as a matter of course, without much in the way of counter-argument. Carter's book provides a fine overview for those unfamiliar with the history of the conflict and lays out an internationally accepted blueprint for peace.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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| A Must Read! |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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Jimmy Carter exemplifies altruistic behavior and equality of ALL men. Finally an unprejudiced person in authority speaks the truth.
Zionists may argue that he's lying and his book is biased. But I implore you to read this book with an open mind. He was an integral part of the mid-east peace process, and as such has merit to write a book of this nature. It is completely free of bias. He points out the flaws of both sides, as well as the good on both sides. His book is not Pro-Israel, or Pro-Palestine...it's Pro-Peace.
If you want an unbiased analysis of the Mid-East, by a man involved in the process, this is the book for you.
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| another recommendation |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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In addition to this remarkable book by Jimmy Carter, I strongly recommend `The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy'. It is completely bewildering how general public and the government allowed being stupefied till such degree by fabricated justification for many Israeli actions.
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| Book needs to be trashed |
| Customer Rating: 1 out of 5 |
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Abominable. That is what Jimmy Carter's book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, is. His book is probably one of the worst I have ever read on Israeli and Middle Eastern affairs. In all honestly, the book needs to be removed from every bookshelf in the county. Instead of promoting peace, it does just the opposite.
Throughout his book, There were a few things that consistently irritated me. For one thing, on almost every page Carter refers to Israel has being occupied land or territory.
For someone who claims to know a lot about Israel and the Middle East, Carter knows very little or nothing at all.
If he would study his Bible more, he claims in his book he teaches Sunday school, he would know that the land the Jews now live in was promised to them by God thousands of years ago when God led Abraham out from the Ur of the Chaldees and led him unto a land that he was going to show him. (Gen 12:1-7)
Upon his arrival in the land of Canaan, it is never referred to as the land of Palestine in the Bible, God promised Abraham that his descendents would inhabit the land forever. And nothing. Absolutely nothing would ever change those promises. (Gen 15:1-21)
Something else that bothered me about his book was, was that he consistently blamed the Jews for most, if not all, the trouble in the Middle East.
One gets the impression, after reading Carter's book, that the Israelis can do no right, and that the Palestinians can do no wrong.
He makes mention that he received the Nobel Prize for peace several years back, I was scratching my head wondering how such a person could receive such an award when, in all honesty, he does not promote peace, but dissension.
Something else that bothered me tremendously was the fact that Carter kept bringing op the dividing of Israel into two states. Many people have been duped into believing that if Israel were divided into two states, one for the Palestinians and the other for the Israelis, that this would resolve the Middle East conflict, and that every thing will suddenly be like paradise. Sorry. It won't happen that way.
Numerous treaties and resolutions have been signed over the course of more than 15 years, and yet no peace has come.
The Palestinians claim that once their fake Palestinian state has been set up, that peace will finally come to the Middle East. Who do they think they are fooling?
Peace. True and everlasting peace will only come to the Middle East and Israel when Jesus, the Prince of Peace, is sitting on the throne of David, in Jerusalem.
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| The Truth |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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It's great to see someone with the status that Jimmy Carter holds, still care to make what is wrong with the world right. A majority of this country did not re-elect President Carter for a second presidential term,(Your loss) but years later he is still making an impact on the lives of people all over the world. That is who we need in office, someone who is sincere enough to care when the cameras are not on, and when lobbyists are not whispering in your ear. President Carter....thank you for your efforts with Palestine and all the other numerous causes you strive to make right.
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| Truth |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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I have always had my reservations about Jimmy Carter. I did not like his presidency, its legacy nor how he handled the Hijacking towards the end of his presidency.
That said
I found this book to be the best, all around go-to book that explains EVERYTHING concerning Israel, its neighbors and the history of the conflict and how it leads up to today. Carter's bias is little and generally he gives both sides and history a very fair shake, so fair in fact that I have read many inflamatory comments and reviews that he is a Jew hater, israel hater or arab hater. This books sits next to The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy by John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt and a few books by Niall Ferguson in my library in my study.
If you want a concise, fair and truely balanced view of what problems exist in the middle east then by all means read this book! He took pains to back every bit that he could with UN resolutions in his appedix.
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