World
Jimmy Carter's Vile Little Book
Atlanta
immy Carter's new book about the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict sparked
plenty of negative attention long
before its release Nov. 14 simply because of
its deplorable title: Palestine: Peace not
Apartheid. And if you are a supporter of
Israel, you should find this book offensive.
So let's get one thing out of the way
from the start: Don't
buy this book. The
former president
doesn't need your
money, and the
sooner this book
slides off the best-
seller lists, the better.
But because of
the title, because of
Michael
the author, because
Jacobs
of the topic, you can
Special
- be sure the book
Commentary
will be a bestseller,
and Zionists need to
know what it says to counter its arguments.
First, there's the in-your-face title, com-
bined with a cover image that shows a
thoughtful Carter overlooking Palestinians
protesting Israel's security barrier. The use
of "apartheid" has been the focus of most
pre-publication outrage, with good reason.
As Carter well knows, apartheid was a
system of laws designed to keep blacks as
second-class citizens in South Africa and
to maintain the white power structure by
separating whites and blacks. In Israel,
Arab citizens are the legal equals of Jewish
citizens, can go everywhere they go and
do whatever they do. Carter attempts to
apply the term to Israel's treatment of the
Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank,
which he insists on calling Palestine. It's
bizarre to present the relations between two
peoples who should have separate nations
as apartheid because you dislike the way
the existing country tries to establish lines
of separation to create the new nation.
Double Standard
But that's typical of the double standard
Carter has applied to the Mideast for
years.
For Carter, Israel is the cause of all the
problems. "There is little doubt that the
lack of a persistent effort to resolve the
Palestinian issue is a major source of anti-
American sentiment and terrorist activity
throughout the Middle East and the Islamic
world': Carter writes.
In other words, if Israel would just do
what is right, the Palestinians, Hezbollah,
22
November 16
•
2006
Iran, Al Qaida, etc., would lay down their
"most" and "almost universal," whether
explosive belts, give up their improvised
describing Israeli support for his proposal
explosive devices, dismantle their rockets,
for borders along the pre-1967 lines or
forget any dreams of nuclear bombs, and
asserting the Arab acceptance of the per-
live in peace and harmony for all time.
manent, peaceful existence of Israel.
Of course, that's preposterous, and it's
tempting to chalk up this book and a series Carter's Real Purpose
of anti-Israel statements in recent years to
Given that there would be an almost uni-
the decline of the former president's mental versal belief among Israelis and Arabs that
capacities. But that approach underesti-
such statements are somewhere between
mates a smart man with incredible experi-
misleading and false, we must wonder
ence on the international scene.
whom Carter is trying to persuade.
The key question is for whom did. Carter
The answer, I'm afraid, is American
write this book? Not the Palestinians, who
Christians, particularly evangelicals who
already believe that Israel is evil.
have been Israel's most ardent supporters.
It certainly wasn't for Israelis or
Carter sprinkles references to Israeli
American Jews, who will see through
oppression of Christians, destruction of
Carter's paper-thin arguments if they can
Christian holy sites and imprisonment of
stomach reading the book. Just take the
Bethlehem throughout the book, trying
latest examples, Carter's comments on this
to plant the seeds of doubt about Israel in
summer's fighting in Gaza and in northern
Christian minds. He emphasizes Israel's
Israel and southern Lebanon.
secular nature during his first visit in 1973
The Israel Defense Forces rolled into
and makes a point of reminding Golda
Gaza after gunmen affiliated with Hamas,
Meir that Israel has always suffered God's
wrath when it turned away from Torah
the ruling party in the Palestinian govern-
ment, tunneled into Israel, killed a couple
observance. He makes dark allusions to the
backroom power of the pro-
of soldiers and abducted
Cpl. Gilad Shalit (don't look
Israel lobby.
He delivers so many argu-
for his name in the book
— that would humanize the
ments that could work only
Israeli oppressors). Carter
on people without a detailed
makes no mention of the
knowledge of the conflict. For
example, he asserts that Israel's
slain soldiers, only the kid-
security fence is a grotesque
napping.
violation of international law
He then accepts the
premise that Hezbollah
PEACE NOT but ignores the fact that it has
to stop suicide attacks;
conducted its raid into
APART HELD worked
he praises Hamas for maintain-
northern Israel, killing
JIMMY C ARTER ing a cease-fire for two years
several soldiers and kidnap-
and ignores the Qassam rock-
ping two, just to support
ets that so frequently shatter
Hamas. Carter never even
says the attack was inside Israel; he just
life in Sderot.
Finally, he uses that buzzword, apartheid.
says Hezbollah attacked the Israeli military.
It's a word that cuts off debate and leads to
As he did in an infamous interview with a
German magazine this summer, Carter then instant condemnation. It exerts particular
influence over all of the religious groups
castigates Israel for its extensive bombing
that were active in the divestment cam-
in Lebanon; accuses Israel of declaring war
paign against South Africa in the 1980s.
on Lebanon, not Hezbollah (never mind
And it's clearly Carter's hope not that his
that Hezbollah is part of the Lebanese gov-
book will be a road map for peace, but that
ernment); and implies that Hezbollah fired
it will inspire a similar grass-roots move-
nearly 4,000 rockets on northern Israel in
ment in the United States to undermine
response to Israel's bombing 7,000 sites
Israel and ruin the U.S.-Israel relationship.
in Lebanon, as if Hezbollah held its fire as
•
long as possible, and as if Israel's effort to
In short, Palestine: Peace not
destroy Hezbollah's war-making ability and Apartheid is a poorly written, poorly
argued, nonsensical little book, and it's the
Hezbollah's effort to destroy Israeli civilians
most dangerous weapon Israel has faced in
were equivalent sins.
a year full of fighting. E
Those kind of maddening half-truths
and distortions fill the book, particularly
Michael Jacobs is managing editor of the
the final third, from the Clinton presidency
Atlanta Jewish Times, sister publication of the
to the present. Carter makes his arguments
Detroit Jewish News.
with unsubstantiated modifiers such as
Answering
Israel's Critics
The Charge:
Letter writers to one of the local daily
newspapers last week charged that
Israel rejects dialogue and refuses to
come to the negotiating table with the
Palestinians.
The Answer:
Israel is joined by the U.S., the Euro-
pean Union, the U.N. and Russia in
expecting certain confidence-building
measures from the Palestinians before
a peace process can be resumed.
These include a rejection of terrorism,
disarming of terror groups, recogni-
tion of Israel, abiding by past signed
agreements, ending incitement to
hatred and violence, and accepting
that compromise will be the result of a
negotiated outcome.
— Allan Gale, Jewish Community Council of
Metropolitan Detroit
Olmert, Bush Agree On Iran
Washington/17'A — Israel and the
United States agree that Iran must not
attain the scientific know-how to manu-
facture a nuclear bomb, Ehud Olmert
said. The Israeli prime minister spoke
to reporters after meeting Monday with
President Bush in Washington. Both lead-
ers restated their commitment to prevent-
ing Iran from manufacturing a bomb.
Olmert expanded on that, saying that after
lengthy discussion, "we have absolute
agreement" that "we must make every
effort to stop Iran from getting to the tech-
nical stage where they can manufacture
weapons."
Prior to their meeting, there had been
reports that Olmert was concerned that
the Americans were less worried than
Israel about Iran gaining nuclear know-
how. Olmert earlier voiced confidence that
Israeli-U.S. relations would remain robust
despite the Republicans' midterm election
defeat. "Support for Israel has tradition-
ally been bipartisan," he told reporters en
route to Washington. .
In the lead-up to his meeting with
Bush, Olmert also said Israel is not eager
to go to war over Iran's nuclear program.
The Israeli prime minister told NBC in
an interview broadcast Monday that
Jerusalem would be happy with any "com-
promise that will stop Iran from acquiring
nuclear capabilities which will be accept-
able to President Bush."