Palestine Peace Not Apartheid
Encyclopedia
Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid is a New York Times Best Seller
book written by Jimmy Carter
, 39th President of the United States
(1977–1981) and winner of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize
. It was published by Simon and Schuster in November 2006.
While President, Carter hosted talks
between Menachem Begin
of Israel
and Anwar Sadat
of Egypt
that led to the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty
. In this book Carter argues that "Israel's continued control and colonization of Palestinian land
have been the primary obstacles to a comprehensive peace agreement in the Middle East
." That perspective, coupled with Apartheid in the titular phrase Peace Not Apartheid (which many regard as a subtitle) and allegations of errors and misstatements in the book, sparked criticism. Carter has defended his book and countered that response to it "in the real world…has been overwhelmingly positive."
The Documentary, "Jimmy Carter Man from Plains
" (2007), explores the former President's post-White House role in the Palestine Israel conflict. Academy Award - winning director Jonathan Demme
reveals a complex individual who, with gusto and determination, travels the country to promote his book and to get his message across, even as that message creates great controversy.
To bring an end to what he calls "this continuing tragedy", in Chapter 17 ("Summary"), Carter calls for a revitalization of the peace process based on the following three "key requirements":
titled "Reiterating the Keys to Peace", published in The Boston Globe
on 20 December 2006, Carter summarizes "[s]ome major points in the book":
in a media environment described as hostile to opponents of Israel's policies. Others have been more negative. According to Julie Bosman
, criticism of the book "has escalated to a full-scale furor," much of which has focused on Carter's use of the word "apartheid" in the subtitle. Some critics, including several leaders of the Democratic Party
and of American Jewish organizations, have interpreted the subtitle as an allegation of Israeli apartheid, which they believe to be inflammatory and unsubstantiated." Former President Bill Clinton
wrote a brief letter to the chairman of the American Jewish Committee
, thanking him for articles criticizing the book and citing his agreement with Dennis Ross
's attempts to "straighten ... out" Carter's information and conclusions about Clinton’s own summer 2000 Camp David peace proposal. The book led to 15 resignations from among the more than 200-member Board of Councilors of the Carter Center
. Some reviewers of the book, such as Jeffrey Goldberg
and Ethan Bronner
(NY Times Jerusalem correspondent), have accused Carter of engaging in hyperbole
throughout the book, placing too much of the burden of responsibility for what he regards as the plight and mistreatment of the Palestinians
on Israel, and misrepresenting historical facts. Although, according to James D. Besser, Abraham Foxman
, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League
, initially accused Carter of "engaging in anti-Semitism" in the book, Foxman told James Traub
later that he would not call the former president himself an "anti-Semite" or a "bigot". Despite the initial claims, Bronner stresses that Carter's "overstatement" in the book "hardly adds up to anti-Semitism." Several familiar with Israeli press reportage, including left-leaning Israeli politicians such as Yossi Beilin
, argue that Carter's critique of Israeli policy in the Palestinian territories reflects that of many Israelis themselves.
President Carter's book was one of three recommended by Osama Bin Laden
In a 2009 audio tape titled "An Address To The American People". Bin Laden reportedly urged Americans to “read what your former president, Carter, wrote regarding Israeli racism against our people in Palestine,” but The New York Times felt that Bin Laden's description had mischaracterized the book.
in an op-ed published in The Los Angeles Times (which was excerpted in The Guardian
and elsewhere):
He also wrote a "Letter to Jewish Citizens of America" explaining "his use of the term 'apartheid' and sympathizing with Israelis who fear terrorism."
In a report updated by the Associated Press
after the publication of Carter's "Letter to Jewish Citizens of America", Greg Bluestein observes that Carter replied generally to complaints of the book's errors and inaccuracies by Dennis Ross
, Alan Dershowitz
, Kenneth Stein, the Simon Wiesenthal Center
, and others by pointing out that the Carter Center
staff as well as an "unnamed 'distinguished' reporter" fact-checked it. Rachel Zelkowitz points out that, as cited in various news accounts, "Carter has consistently defended his book's accuracy against Stein and other critics"; in a prepared statement, Carter's press secretary Deanna Congileo responds "that Carter had his book reviewed for accuracy throughout the writing process" and that "[a]s with all of President Carter's previous books, any detected errors will be corrected in later editions . . " In response to the Associated Press's request for a comment on the resignations of Stein and fourteen other members of the Center's Board of Councilors, speaking on behalf of both Carter and the Carter Center, Ms. Congileo also provided a statement from its executive director John Hardman, who, according to Zelkowitz, "also fact checked Palestine, saying that the members of that board 'are not engaged in implementing the work of the Center.'"
: "[M]any controversial issues concerning Palestine and the path to peace for Israel are intensely debated among Israelis and throughout other nations — but not in the United States. . . . This reluctance to criticize any policies of the Israeli government is because of the extraordinary lobbying efforts of the American-Israel Political Action Committee
[sic] and the absence of any significant contrary voices." He stresses that through the debate among others that he hopes this book will stimulate and through his own related public-speaking and media appearances, he hopes to tear down the "impenetrable wall" that stops the people of the US from seeing the plight of Palestinians.
invited Carter to visit the university to debate his book with Alan Dershowitz
: "Brandeis president Jehuda Reinharz
said he agreed with a trustee's suggestion to invite Carter last month [December 2006], if Carter were willing to debate one of his most outspoken critics, Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz
."
But Carter declined that invitation, explaining: "I don't want to have a conversation even indirectly with Dershowitz. There is no need to for me to debate somebody who, in my opinion, knows nothing about the situation in Palestine." Carter said that the Brandeis debate request, "is proof that many in the United States are unwilling to hear an alternative view on the nation's most taboo foreign policy issue, Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory," adding: "There is no debate in America about anything that would be critical of Israel." In response, Dershowitz criticized Carter's refusal to debate him, asserting: "Carter’s refusal to debate wouldn't be so strange if it weren't for the fact that he claims that he wrote the book precisely so as to start debate over the issue of the Israel-Palestine peace process. If that were really true, Carter would be thrilled to have the opportunity to debate." He later wrote in The Case Against Israel's Enemies that Carter's accusation of his ignorance was "untrue, as Carter well knew, since we had discussed my several visits to the Palestinian Authority during our conversation only months earlier in Herzliya."
Additionally, Dershowitz pointed out his later presentation in George Washington University. Carter, in addressing Brandeis's proposal to debate Dershowitz, responded that he had "never received any invitation to debate, contrary to what a Harvard professor has said." This has raised a contradiction that Carter has yet to address.
In a Boston Globe article of 22 December 2006, Professor Patricia Johnston said she and many colleagues had offered to chip in perhaps $100 each to pay for whatever travel and security costs a Carter visit would entail. "Who is Alan Dershowitz?" Johnston said. Carter "is the former president of the United States, who has done so much to further the cause of peace in the Middle East and elsewhere. It's an insult to suggest that he should have to defend himself that way." She said she envisioned Carter giving a traditional speech and taking audience questions.
On 26 December 2006, WCVB-TV
(an ABC-TV
affiliate), reported that "[a]bout 100 students, faculty and alumni of Brandeis University
have signed an online petition to push the administration to bring former President Carter to campus to discuss his new book on Palestine, without being required to debate it."
The Boston Globe reports that since it initially revealed "that Carter felt unwelcome on the Waltham campus, people have argued over whether he is unwilling to answer for his views, or whether Brandeis, which was founded by the American Jewish community, can't tolerate criticism of Israel. The latter is a view that some professors hope they can dispel by reviving the Carter visit." "The main organizer of the effort, according to other professors, is Gordon Fellman, a sociologist who is chairman of Brandeis's program in peace, conflict, and coexistence studies...." Professor David Gil suggested that "Brandeis should choose Carter's book next year [2007–2008] as the work that all incoming freshmen read over the summer and discuss it during orientation. Carter could visit to talk with them about it", Professor Gil said, and he "also has decided to assign the book in his spring [2007] seminar.
On 10 January 2007, it was reported that President Carter would discuss Palestine Peace Not Apartheid at Brandeis University but that he would "not, however, debate the book with" Dershowitz. Brandeis officials reported that Carter would "be the first former president to visit Brandeis since Harry Truman delivered the commencement address in 1957.... It will be Carter's first visit to a university to discuss the book, [Carter's spokeswoman Deanna] Congileo said", confirming also "the president has set no conditions and would answer as many questions as possible"; Carter plans to "speak for about 15 minutes and then answer questions for 45 minutes during the visit." The speech, which occurred on 23 January 2007, was "closed to the public and limited to 'members of the university community only'"; nevertheless, Dershowitz said that he still planned to "attend and question Carter": "'I will be the first person to have my hand up to ask him a question,' he said. 'I guarantee that they won't stop me from attending.'" On 18 January 2007 news outlets reported Brandeis' announcement that while Dershowitz could not attend Carter's speech, after it ended he would have the stage for a "rebuttal."
Streaming video of the speech (15 minutes), the question-and-answer period (45 minutes), followed by Dershowitz's rebuttal (one hour), have been posted on the Brandeis University website, as was a transcript of Carter's remarks and ten of the questions and answers, preceded by Brandeis' newspaper article about the event.
The day after the speech (24 January 2007), The New York Times reported on the program: "Questions were preselected by the committee that invited Mr. Carter, and the questioners included an Israeli student and a Palestinian student . . After Mr. Carter left, Mr. Dershowitz spoke in the same gymnasium, saying that the former president oversimplified the situation and that his conciliatory and sensible-sounding speech at Brandeis belied his words in some other interviews." According to David Weber, of ABC News
, Carter said "that he stood by the book and its title, that he apologized for what he called an 'improper and stupid' sentence in the book [which he acknowledged seemed to justify terrorism by saying that suicide bombings should end when Israel accepts the goals of the road map to peace with Palestinians and which he had already instructed his publisher to remove from its future editions,] and that he had been disturbed by accusations that he was anti-Semitic.... [Carter]...acknowledged...that 'Palestine Peace Not Apartheid' has 'caused great concern in the Jewish community,' but noted that it has nonetheless prompted discussion." An editorial published in the Waltham, Massachusetts
newspaper, the Daily News Tribune, concludes: "Carter succeeded in bringing to Brandeis a productive, civil debate." Videotaped excerpts from Carter's visit to Brandeis were featured on several national news programs in the United States, such as NBC
's morning program Today, along with follow-up interviews with Carter.
As a result of the visit, major donors told Brandeis University that they will no longer give it money in "retaliation", according to Stuart Eizenstat, chief domestic policy adviser and executive director of the White House Domestic Policy Staff during Carter's presidency and a current trustee of Brandeis, as quoted in The Jewish Week
in mid-February 2007. According to Brandeis student Kevin Montgomery, who led the Student Committee to bring Jimmy Carter to Brandeis (cited in the Jewish Week article), the Brandeis University Development and Alumni Relations office had expected, prior to Carter's visit, to lose $5 million due to the visit.
made the film Man From Plains which "follows the former President as he takes part in a book tour across America to publicise his new tome, 'Palestine Peace Not Apartheid'." According to the Boston Globe Demme filmed Carter for three months "to compile footage for a documentary about the former president's book and Carter's efforts to increase debate on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict." While it granted camera access to members of the news media for their broadcasts, Brandeis University
refused Demme's request to film Carter's January 2007 speech for the end of the film, citing logistical and legal considerations. The film debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival
on 10 September 2007.
Madeleine Albright
at the Carter Center
, moderated by Conflict Resolution Program Director Matthew Hodes. The event became sold out in early January 2007. The event was simultaneously webcast in the Carter Center's online "multi-media" section, and the Center's website now includes a direct link to the "archived webcast."
hosted a visit by Carter during which he discussed his book. According to reporter Beth Schwartzapfel, in The Forward
, a group of Jewish students led by Robert Fishman, executive director of the campus Hillel
, dominated the microphones, preventing other students from asking questions, while asking questions critical of Carter prepared, forwarded, and distributed to them in advance by faculty and students at Emory University
as if they were their own questions:
Schwartzapfel also cites "[a] video of the event, posted to the G.W. Web site, [which] shows that Carter received several standing ovations and long stretches of applause." "But", Schwartzapfel continues, "an Associated Press story that ran immediately after the event characterized the audience as 'polite but mostly critical,'" adding: "Jack Stokes, an A.P. spokesman, told the Forward that the article’s description of the audience 'was based on [reporter Barry] Schweid’s observation of the speech, as well as the subsequent Q&A Carter engaged in with the students. The A.P. story stands as written.'"
Schweid observes:
Schwartzapfel reports, however:
Fishman told the Forward, Schwartzapfel reports further:"'You know how we did it, honestly?...We said, "Let’s sit near the microphones." They each had a copy of the questions, and then they stood on line.'" Yet, she adds: "Hennessey asserted that the maneuver ended up influencing media coverage of the event. 'This small group successfully outgunned the microphones and managed to give some journalists this totally erroneous impression that that was how the student body felt about Carter,' he said." Whereas "Hennessey, who described Carter’s book as 'very courageous,' contended that the G.W. students 'very successfully stood up and blocked anyone else from asking a question,'" Schwartzapfel continues:
, in Iowa City, on 18 April 2007, Carter stated: "I wrote this book to describe the plight of the Palestinians and because I'm convinced we desperately need debate about where we are and where we ought to be going, and how to rejuvenate the non-existent peace process in the Middle East" ... [and that] Carter says the book's objective is permanent peace for Israel and its neighbors; it’s something the former president says he’s dedicated his entire adult life to.
While Kellett states that "Many in attendance applaud his efforts," she also provides the following qualification: "But others criticize the author, claiming his book contains factual errors and misstatements. Members of the local Jewish community say it's simply one-sided." She quotes Tali Ariav of the Hillel Jewish Student Center on the Iowa campus, who stated: "'I am an Israeli so of course I served in the military, so I feel emotionally involved, but I feel every person, every American, every thinker needs to think twice about Carter's opinion, because it's not right' ..." Nevertheless, Keller adds: "Carter adamantly defends the accuracy of his book, saying he wrote every word himself."
. According to Carter's lecture transcript the former president, in answering a question on whether conflict between pro and anti-Israel student groups obstructs chances of peace, said, "I think an altercation or debate or sometimes even an uncomfortable confrontation on a college campus in America is a good move in the right direction.But I would like to see the leaders of those two groups form a combined group that would take advantage of my invitation to go to Palestine and see what’s going on."
New York Times Best Seller list
The New York Times Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. It is published weekly in The New York Times Book Review magazine, which is published in the Sunday edition of The New York Times and as a stand-alone publication...
book written by Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
, 39th President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
(1977–1981) and winner of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
. It was published by Simon and Schuster in November 2006.
While President, Carter hosted talks
Camp David Accords
The Camp David Accords were signed by Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin on September 17, 1978, following thirteen days of secret negotiations at Camp David. The two framework agreements were signed at the White House, and were witnessed by United States...
between Menachem Begin
Menachem Begin
' was a politician, founder of Likud and the sixth Prime Minister of the State of Israel. Before independence, he was the leader of the Zionist militant group Irgun, the Revisionist breakaway from the larger Jewish paramilitary organization Haganah. He proclaimed a revolt, on 1 February 1944,...
of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
and Anwar Sadat
Anwar Sadat
Muhammad Anwar al-Sadat was the third President of Egypt, serving from 15 October 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers on 6 October 1981...
of Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
that led to the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty
Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty
The 1979 Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty was signed in Washington, D.C. on the 26th of March 1979, following the 1978 Camp David Accords, which were signed by Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, and were witnessed by United States President Jimmy Carter.The peace...
. In this book Carter argues that "Israel's continued control and colonization of Palestinian land
Israeli settlement
An Israeli settlement is a Jewish civilian community built on land that was captured by Israel from Jordan, Egypt, and Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War and is considered occupied territory by the international community. Such settlements currently exist in the West Bank...
have been the primary obstacles to a comprehensive peace agreement in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
." That perspective, coupled with Apartheid in the titular phrase Peace Not Apartheid (which many regard as a subtitle) and allegations of errors and misstatements in the book, sparked criticism. Carter has defended his book and countered that response to it "in the real world…has been overwhelmingly positive."
The Documentary, "Jimmy Carter Man from Plains
Man from Plains
Man from Plains is a 2007 American documentary film written and directed by Jonathan Demme, which chronicles former President Jimmy Carter's book tour across America to publicize his new book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.For the book promotion, Carter grants interviews to selected newspapers,...
" (2007), explores the former President's post-White House role in the Palestine Israel conflict. Academy Award - winning director Jonathan Demme
Jonathan Demme
Robert Jonathan Demme is an American filmmaker, producer and screenwriter. Best known for directing The Silence of the Lambs, which won him the Academy Award for Best Director, he has also directed the acclaimed movies Philadelphia, Rachel Getting Married, the Talking Heads concert movie Stop...
reveals a complex individual who, with gusto and determination, travels the country to promote his book and to get his message across, even as that message creates great controversy.
"The ultimate purpose"
Thesis: How to achieve "permanent peace in the Middle East"
Carter identifies "two interrelated obstacles to permanent peace in the Middle East":To bring an end to what he calls "this continuing tragedy", in Chapter 17 ("Summary"), Carter calls for a revitalization of the peace process based on the following three "key requirements":
The Apartheid Analogy
Regarding the use of the word "Apartheid" in the title of his book, Carter has said:"Some major points"
In his op-edOp-ed
An op-ed, abbreviated from opposite the editorial page , is a newspaper article that expresses the opinions of a named writer who is usually unaffiliated with the newspaper's editorial board...
titled "Reiterating the Keys to Peace", published in The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
on 20 December 2006, Carter summarizes "[s]ome major points in the book":
Critical reaction and commentary
Critical response to Palestine Peace Not Apartheid has been mixed. Some journalists and academics have praised Carter's courage for speaking honestly about the Israeli-Palestinian conflictIsraeli-Palestinian conflict
The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. The conflict is wide-ranging, and the term is also used in reference to the earlier phases of the same conflict, between Jewish and Zionist yishuv and the Arab population living in Palestine under Ottoman or...
in a media environment described as hostile to opponents of Israel's policies. Others have been more negative. According to Julie Bosman
Julie Bosman
Julie Bosman is a reporter for The New York Times. She currently writes about book publishing and has previously covered social services, the New York City schools, the 2008 presidential campaign, advertising and media...
, criticism of the book "has escalated to a full-scale furor," much of which has focused on Carter's use of the word "apartheid" in the subtitle. Some critics, including several leaders of the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
and of American Jewish organizations, have interpreted the subtitle as an allegation of Israeli apartheid, which they believe to be inflammatory and unsubstantiated." Former President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
wrote a brief letter to the chairman of the American Jewish Committee
American Jewish Committee
The American Jewish Committee was "founded in 1906 with the aim of rallying all sections of American Jewry to defend the rights of Jews all over the world...
, thanking him for articles criticizing the book and citing his agreement with Dennis Ross
Dennis Ross
Dennis B. Ross is an American diplomat and author. He has served as the Director of Policy Planning in the State Department under President George H. W...
's attempts to "straighten ... out" Carter's information and conclusions about Clinton’s own summer 2000 Camp David peace proposal. The book led to 15 resignations from among the more than 200-member Board of Councilors of the Carter Center
Carter Center
The Carter Center is a nongovernmental, not-for-profit organization founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn Carter. In partnership with Emory University, The Carter Center works to advance human rights and alleviate human suffering...
. Some reviewers of the book, such as Jeffrey Goldberg
Jeffrey Goldberg
Jeffrey Mark Goldberg is an American journalist. He is an author and a staff writer for The Atlantic, having previously worked for The New Yorker. Goldberg writes principally on foreign affairs, with a focus on the Middle East and Africa...
and Ethan Bronner
Ethan Bronner
Ethan Samuel Bronner has been Jerusalem bureau chief of The New York Times since March 2008 following four years as deputy foreign editor.-Biography:...
(NY Times Jerusalem correspondent), have accused Carter of engaging in hyperbole
Hyperbole
Hyperbole is the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech. It may be used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression, but is not meant to be taken literally....
throughout the book, placing too much of the burden of responsibility for what he regards as the plight and mistreatment of the Palestinians
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
on Israel, and misrepresenting historical facts. Although, according to James D. Besser, Abraham Foxman
Abraham Foxman
Abraham H. Foxman is the National Director of the Anti-Defamation League.-Early life:Foxman, an only son, was born in Baranovichi, just months after the USSR took the town from Poland in the Nazi-Soviet Pact and incorporated it into the BSSR. The town is now in Belarus...
, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League
Anti-Defamation League
The Anti-Defamation League is an international non-governmental organization based in the United States. Describing itself as "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency", the ADL states that it "fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects...
, initially accused Carter of "engaging in anti-Semitism" in the book, Foxman told James Traub
James Traub
James Traub, born in 1954, is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, where he has worked since 1998. From 1994 to 1997, he was a staff writer for The New Yorker. He has also written for The New York Review of Books, The Atlantic Monthly, National Review and Foreign Affairs...
later that he would not call the former president himself an "anti-Semite" or a "bigot". Despite the initial claims, Bronner stresses that Carter's "overstatement" in the book "hardly adds up to anti-Semitism." Several familiar with Israeli press reportage, including left-leaning Israeli politicians such as Yossi Beilin
Yossi Beilin
Dr. Yosef "Yossi" Beilin is a left-wing Israeli politician and a former Knesset member, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister and Justice Minister, representing both the Labor Party and Meretz-Yachad, of which he served as chairman between 2003 and 2006. He is best known for his involvement with the...
, argue that Carter's critique of Israeli policy in the Palestinian territories reflects that of many Israelis themselves.
President Carter's book was one of three recommended by Osama Bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
In a 2009 audio tape titled "An Address To The American People". Bin Laden reportedly urged Americans to “read what your former president, Carter, wrote regarding Israeli racism against our people in Palestine,” but The New York Times felt that Bin Laden's description had mischaracterized the book.
Carter's response to criticism of the book
Carter has responded to negative reviews in the mainstream news mediaNews media
The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public.These include print media , broadcast news , and more recently the Internet .-Etymology:A medium is a carrier of something...
in an op-ed published in The Los Angeles Times (which was excerpted in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
and elsewhere):
He also wrote a "Letter to Jewish Citizens of America" explaining "his use of the term 'apartheid' and sympathizing with Israelis who fear terrorism."
In a report updated by the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
after the publication of Carter's "Letter to Jewish Citizens of America", Greg Bluestein observes that Carter replied generally to complaints of the book's errors and inaccuracies by Dennis Ross
Dennis Ross
Dennis B. Ross is an American diplomat and author. He has served as the Director of Policy Planning in the State Department under President George H. W...
, Alan Dershowitz
Alan Dershowitz
Alan Morton Dershowitz is an American lawyer, jurist, and political commentator. He has spent most of his career at Harvard Law School where in 1967, at the age of 28, he became the youngest full professor of law in its history...
, Kenneth Stein, the Simon Wiesenthal Center
Simon Wiesenthal Center
The Simon Wiesenthal Center , with headquarters in Los Angeles, California, was established in 1977 and named for Simon Wiesenthal, the Nazi hunter. According to its mission statement, it is "an international Jewish human rights organization dedicated to repairing the world one step at a time...
, and others by pointing out that the Carter Center
Carter Center
The Carter Center is a nongovernmental, not-for-profit organization founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn Carter. In partnership with Emory University, The Carter Center works to advance human rights and alleviate human suffering...
staff as well as an "unnamed 'distinguished' reporter" fact-checked it. Rachel Zelkowitz points out that, as cited in various news accounts, "Carter has consistently defended his book's accuracy against Stein and other critics"; in a prepared statement, Carter's press secretary Deanna Congileo responds "that Carter had his book reviewed for accuracy throughout the writing process" and that "[a]s with all of President Carter's previous books, any detected errors will be corrected in later editions . . " In response to the Associated Press's request for a comment on the resignations of Stein and fourteen other members of the Center's Board of Councilors, speaking on behalf of both Carter and the Carter Center, Ms. Congileo also provided a statement from its executive director John Hardman, who, according to Zelkowitz, "also fact checked Palestine, saying that the members of that board 'are not engaged in implementing the work of the Center.'"
Public and other programs pertaining to the book
Carter has said that debate on Israel-related issues is muffled in the US media by lobbying efforts of the pro-Israel lobbyIsrael lobby in the United States
The Israel lobby is a term used to describe the diverse coalition of those who, as individuals and as groups, seek and have sought to influence the foreign policy of the United States in support of Zionism, Israel or the specific policies of its government...
: "[M]any controversial issues concerning Palestine and the path to peace for Israel are intensely debated among Israelis and throughout other nations — but not in the United States. . . . This reluctance to criticize any policies of the Israeli government is because of the extraordinary lobbying efforts of the American-Israel Political Action Committee
American Israel Public Affairs Committee
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is a lobbying group that advocates pro-Israel policies to the Congress and Executive Branch of the United States...
[sic] and the absence of any significant contrary voices." He stresses that through the debate among others that he hopes this book will stimulate and through his own related public-speaking and media appearances, he hopes to tear down the "impenetrable wall" that stops the people of the US from seeing the plight of Palestinians.
Brandeis University visit
In early December 2006 Brandeis UniversityBrandeis University
Brandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...
invited Carter to visit the university to debate his book with Alan Dershowitz
Alan Dershowitz
Alan Morton Dershowitz is an American lawyer, jurist, and political commentator. He has spent most of his career at Harvard Law School where in 1967, at the age of 28, he became the youngest full professor of law in its history...
: "Brandeis president Jehuda Reinharz
Jehuda Reinharz
Jehuda Reinharz is the former President of Brandeis University, where he is Richard Koret Professor of Modern Jewish History and Director of the Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry. On September 25, 2009 he announced his resignation as president; at the request of trustees he stayed...
said he agreed with a trustee's suggestion to invite Carter last month [December 2006], if Carter were willing to debate one of his most outspoken critics, Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz
Alan Dershowitz
Alan Morton Dershowitz is an American lawyer, jurist, and political commentator. He has spent most of his career at Harvard Law School where in 1967, at the age of 28, he became the youngest full professor of law in its history...
."
But Carter declined that invitation, explaining: "I don't want to have a conversation even indirectly with Dershowitz. There is no need to for me to debate somebody who, in my opinion, knows nothing about the situation in Palestine." Carter said that the Brandeis debate request, "is proof that many in the United States are unwilling to hear an alternative view on the nation's most taboo foreign policy issue, Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory," adding: "There is no debate in America about anything that would be critical of Israel." In response, Dershowitz criticized Carter's refusal to debate him, asserting: "Carter’s refusal to debate wouldn't be so strange if it weren't for the fact that he claims that he wrote the book precisely so as to start debate over the issue of the Israel-Palestine peace process. If that were really true, Carter would be thrilled to have the opportunity to debate." He later wrote in The Case Against Israel's Enemies that Carter's accusation of his ignorance was "untrue, as Carter well knew, since we had discussed my several visits to the Palestinian Authority during our conversation only months earlier in Herzliya."
Additionally, Dershowitz pointed out his later presentation in George Washington University. Carter, in addressing Brandeis's proposal to debate Dershowitz, responded that he had "never received any invitation to debate, contrary to what a Harvard professor has said." This has raised a contradiction that Carter has yet to address.
In a Boston Globe article of 22 December 2006, Professor Patricia Johnston said she and many colleagues had offered to chip in perhaps $100 each to pay for whatever travel and security costs a Carter visit would entail. "Who is Alan Dershowitz?" Johnston said. Carter "is the former president of the United States, who has done so much to further the cause of peace in the Middle East and elsewhere. It's an insult to suggest that he should have to defend himself that way." She said she envisioned Carter giving a traditional speech and taking audience questions.
On 26 December 2006, WCVB-TV
WCVB-TV
WCVB-TV, channel 5, is a television station located in Boston, Massachusetts, owned by Hearst Television and affiliated with the ABC Television Network. WCVB-TV's studios and transmitter are co-located in Needham, Massachusetts. WCVB is also one of six Boston television stations seen in Canada by...
(an ABC-TV
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
affiliate), reported that "[a]bout 100 students, faculty and alumni of Brandeis University
Brandeis University
Brandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...
have signed an online petition to push the administration to bring former President Carter to campus to discuss his new book on Palestine, without being required to debate it."
The Boston Globe reports that since it initially revealed "that Carter felt unwelcome on the Waltham campus, people have argued over whether he is unwilling to answer for his views, or whether Brandeis, which was founded by the American Jewish community, can't tolerate criticism of Israel. The latter is a view that some professors hope they can dispel by reviving the Carter visit." "The main organizer of the effort, according to other professors, is Gordon Fellman, a sociologist who is chairman of Brandeis's program in peace, conflict, and coexistence studies...." Professor David Gil suggested that "Brandeis should choose Carter's book next year [2007–2008] as the work that all incoming freshmen read over the summer and discuss it during orientation. Carter could visit to talk with them about it", Professor Gil said, and he "also has decided to assign the book in his spring [2007] seminar.
On 10 January 2007, it was reported that President Carter would discuss Palestine Peace Not Apartheid at Brandeis University but that he would "not, however, debate the book with" Dershowitz. Brandeis officials reported that Carter would "be the first former president to visit Brandeis since Harry Truman delivered the commencement address in 1957.... It will be Carter's first visit to a university to discuss the book, [Carter's spokeswoman Deanna] Congileo said", confirming also "the president has set no conditions and would answer as many questions as possible"; Carter plans to "speak for about 15 minutes and then answer questions for 45 minutes during the visit." The speech, which occurred on 23 January 2007, was "closed to the public and limited to 'members of the university community only'"; nevertheless, Dershowitz said that he still planned to "attend and question Carter": "'I will be the first person to have my hand up to ask him a question,' he said. 'I guarantee that they won't stop me from attending.'" On 18 January 2007 news outlets reported Brandeis' announcement that while Dershowitz could not attend Carter's speech, after it ended he would have the stage for a "rebuttal."
Streaming video of the speech (15 minutes), the question-and-answer period (45 minutes), followed by Dershowitz's rebuttal (one hour), have been posted on the Brandeis University website, as was a transcript of Carter's remarks and ten of the questions and answers, preceded by Brandeis' newspaper article about the event.
The day after the speech (24 January 2007), The New York Times reported on the program: "Questions were preselected by the committee that invited Mr. Carter, and the questioners included an Israeli student and a Palestinian student . . After Mr. Carter left, Mr. Dershowitz spoke in the same gymnasium, saying that the former president oversimplified the situation and that his conciliatory and sensible-sounding speech at Brandeis belied his words in some other interviews." According to David Weber, of ABC News
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
, Carter said "that he stood by the book and its title, that he apologized for what he called an 'improper and stupid' sentence in the book [which he acknowledged seemed to justify terrorism by saying that suicide bombings should end when Israel accepts the goals of the road map to peace with Palestinians and which he had already instructed his publisher to remove from its future editions,] and that he had been disturbed by accusations that he was anti-Semitic.... [Carter]...acknowledged...that 'Palestine Peace Not Apartheid' has 'caused great concern in the Jewish community,' but noted that it has nonetheless prompted discussion." An editorial published in the Waltham, Massachusetts
Waltham, Massachusetts
Waltham is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, was an early center for the labor movement, and major contributor to the American Industrial Revolution. The original home of the Boston Manufacturing Company, the city was a prototype for 19th century industrial city planning,...
newspaper, the Daily News Tribune, concludes: "Carter succeeded in bringing to Brandeis a productive, civil debate." Videotaped excerpts from Carter's visit to Brandeis were featured on several national news programs in the United States, such as NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's morning program Today, along with follow-up interviews with Carter.
As a result of the visit, major donors told Brandeis University that they will no longer give it money in "retaliation", according to Stuart Eizenstat, chief domestic policy adviser and executive director of the White House Domestic Policy Staff during Carter's presidency and a current trustee of Brandeis, as quoted in The Jewish Week
The Jewish Week
The Jewish Week is an independent weekly newspaper serving the Jewish community of the metropolitan New York City area. The Jewish Week covers news relating to the Jewish community in NYC and has world-wide distribution.-Editorial staff:...
in mid-February 2007. According to Brandeis student Kevin Montgomery, who led the Student Committee to bring Jimmy Carter to Brandeis (cited in the Jewish Week article), the Brandeis University Development and Alumni Relations office had expected, prior to Carter's visit, to lose $5 million due to the visit.
Man from Plains: Documentary feature film by Jonathan Demme
In 2007 Jonathan DemmeJonathan Demme
Robert Jonathan Demme is an American filmmaker, producer and screenwriter. Best known for directing The Silence of the Lambs, which won him the Academy Award for Best Director, he has also directed the acclaimed movies Philadelphia, Rachel Getting Married, the Talking Heads concert movie Stop...
made the film Man From Plains which "follows the former President as he takes part in a book tour across America to publicise his new tome, 'Palestine Peace Not Apartheid'." According to the Boston Globe Demme filmed Carter for three months "to compile footage for a documentary about the former president's book and Carter's efforts to increase debate on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict." While it granted camera access to members of the news media for their broadcasts, Brandeis University
Brandeis University
Brandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...
refused Demme's request to film Carter's January 2007 speech for the end of the film, citing logistical and legal considerations. The film debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
on 10 September 2007.
Carter Center conversation
On 22 February 2007 Carter participated in a "conversation" about Palestine Peace Not Apartheid with former Secretary of StateUnited States Secretary of State
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...
Madeleine Albright
Madeleine Albright
Madeleine Korbelová Albright is the first woman to become a United States Secretary of State. She was appointed by U.S. President Bill Clinton on December 5, 1996, and was unanimously confirmed by a U.S. Senate vote of 99–0...
at the Carter Center
Carter Center
The Carter Center is a nongovernmental, not-for-profit organization founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn Carter. In partnership with Emory University, The Carter Center works to advance human rights and alleviate human suffering...
, moderated by Conflict Resolution Program Director Matthew Hodes. The event became sold out in early January 2007. The event was simultaneously webcast in the Carter Center's online "multi-media" section, and the Center's website now includes a direct link to the "archived webcast."
George Washington University visit
On 8 March 2007 George Washington UniversityGeorge Washington University
The George Washington University is a private, coeducational comprehensive university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States...
hosted a visit by Carter during which he discussed his book. According to reporter Beth Schwartzapfel, in The Forward
The Forward
The Forward , commonly known as The Jewish Daily Forward, is a Jewish-American newspaper published in New York City. The publication began in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily issued by dissidents from the Socialist Labor Party of Daniel DeLeon...
, a group of Jewish students led by Robert Fishman, executive director of the campus Hillel
Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life
Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life is the largest Jewish campus organization in the world, working with thousands of college students globally...
, dominated the microphones, preventing other students from asking questions, while asking questions critical of Carter prepared, forwarded, and distributed to them in advance by faculty and students at Emory University
Emory University
Emory University is a private research university in metropolitan Atlanta, located in the Druid Hills section of unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The university was founded as Emory College in 1836 in Oxford, Georgia by a small group of Methodists and was named in honor of...
as if they were their own questions:
Schwartzapfel also cites "[a] video of the event, posted to the G.W. Web site, [which] shows that Carter received several standing ovations and long stretches of applause." "But", Schwartzapfel continues, "an Associated Press story that ran immediately after the event characterized the audience as 'polite but mostly critical,'" adding: "Jack Stokes, an A.P. spokesman, told the Forward that the article’s description of the audience 'was based on [reporter Barry] Schweid’s observation of the speech, as well as the subsequent Q&A Carter engaged in with the students. The A.P. story stands as written.'"
Schweid observes:
Schwartzapfel reports, however:
Fishman told the Forward, Schwartzapfel reports further:"'You know how we did it, honestly?...We said, "Let’s sit near the microphones." They each had a copy of the questions, and then they stood on line.'" Yet, she adds: "Hennessey asserted that the maneuver ended up influencing media coverage of the event. 'This small group successfully outgunned the microphones and managed to give some journalists this totally erroneous impression that that was how the student body felt about Carter,' he said." Whereas "Hennessey, who described Carter’s book as 'very courageous,' contended that the G.W. students 'very successfully stood up and blocked anyone else from asking a question,'" Schwartzapfel continues:
University of Iowa visit
Pointing out that "The former president rarely speaks about his book at universities. He says he’s been invited to more than 100 campuses, but he's only visited five," Claire Keller reported that, during his public appearance at the University of IowaUniversity of Iowa
The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
, in Iowa City, on 18 April 2007, Carter stated: "I wrote this book to describe the plight of the Palestinians and because I'm convinced we desperately need debate about where we are and where we ought to be going, and how to rejuvenate the non-existent peace process in the Middle East" ... [and that] Carter says the book's objective is permanent peace for Israel and its neighbors; it’s something the former president says he’s dedicated his entire adult life to.
While Kellett states that "Many in attendance applaud his efforts," she also provides the following qualification: "But others criticize the author, claiming his book contains factual errors and misstatements. Members of the local Jewish community say it's simply one-sided." She quotes Tali Ariav of the Hillel Jewish Student Center on the Iowa campus, who stated: "'I am an Israeli so of course I served in the military, so I feel emotionally involved, but I feel every person, every American, every thinker needs to think twice about Carter's opinion, because it's not right' ..." Nevertheless, Keller adds: "Carter adamantly defends the accuracy of his book, saying he wrote every word himself."
University of California, Irvine visit
After being "greeted with thunderous applause" from a crowd of about 3,400 students and faculty, on 3 May 2007, Carter presented a lecture and participated in a discussion relating to the book in conjunction with the Center for the Study of Democracy and Model United Nations, in association with the Center for Citizen Peacebuilding, Department of Political Science, at the University of California, IrvineUniversity of California, Irvine
The University of California, Irvine , founded in 1965, is one of the ten campuses of the University of California, located in Irvine, California, USA...
. According to Carter's lecture transcript the former president, in answering a question on whether conflict between pro and anti-Israel student groups obstructs chances of peace, said, "I think an altercation or debate or sometimes even an uncomfortable confrontation on a college campus in America is a good move in the right direction.But I would like to see the leaders of those two groups form a combined group that would take advantage of my invitation to go to Palestine and see what’s going on."
See also
- Man from PlainsMan from PlainsMan from Plains is a 2007 American documentary film written and directed by Jonathan Demme, which chronicles former President Jimmy Carter's book tour across America to publicize his new book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.For the book promotion, Carter grants interviews to selected newspapers,...
- Israel and the apartheid analogy
- Arab-Israeli conflict
- Carter CenterCarter CenterThe Carter Center is a nongovernmental, not-for-profit organization founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn Carter. In partnership with Emory University, The Carter Center works to advance human rights and alleviate human suffering...
- Israeli-Palestinian conflictIsraeli-Palestinian conflictThe Israeli–Palestinian conflict is the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. The conflict is wide-ranging, and the term is also used in reference to the earlier phases of the same conflict, between Jewish and Zionist yishuv and the Arab population living in Palestine under Ottoman or...
- Israeli-Palestinian peace process
- Israeli West Bank barrierIsraeli West Bank barrierThe Israeli West Bank barrier is a separation barrier being constructed by the State of Israel along and within the West Bank. Upon completion, the barrier’s total length will be approximately...
- PalestinePalestinePalestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
Further reading
- Abunimah, AliAli AbunimahAli Hasan Abunimah is a Palestinian American journalist and co-founder of Electronic Intifada, a not-for-profit, independent online publication about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Born in Washington D.C., he spent his early years in the United Kingdom and Belgium before returning to the...
. One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse. New York: Metropolitan Books, 2006. ISBN 0-805-08034-1 (10). ISBN 978-080-508034-6 (13) - Foxman, Abraham H.Abraham FoxmanAbraham H. Foxman is the National Director of the Anti-Defamation League.-Early life:Foxman, an only son, was born in Baranovichi, just months after the USSR took the town from Poland in the Nazi-Soviet Pact and incorporated it into the BSSR. The town is now in Belarus...
Never Again? The Threat of the New Anti-Semitism. New York: HarperSanFrancisco (an imprint of Harper Collins), 2003. ISBN 0-060-54246-2 (10). ISBN 978-006-054246-7 - Konner, MelvinMelvin KonnerMelvin Konner, MD, PhD, is the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Anthropology and Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology at Emory University. He studied at Brooklyn College , CUNY , where he met Marjorie Shostak, whom he later married and with whom he had three children. He earned his PhD...
. Unsettled: An Anthropology of the Jews. Rpt. New York: Viking AdultViking PressViking Press is an American publishing company owned by the Penguin Group, which has owned the company since 1975. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim...
, 2003. ISBN 0-670-03244-1 (10). ISBN 978-067-003244-0 (13) - Ross, DennisDennis RossDennis B. Ross is an American diplomat and author. He has served as the Director of Policy Planning in the State Department under President George H. W...
. The Missing Peace: The Inside Story of the Fight for Middle East Peace. Rpt. paperback ed. 2004; New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2005. ISBN 0-37452980-9 (10). ISBN 978-037-452980-2 (13) - Traub, James. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/14/magazine/14foxman.t.html?ref=magazine "Does Abe Foxman Have an Anti-Anti-Semite Problem?" New York Times Magazine 14 January 2007: 30–35. Accessed 14 January 2007 online; 18 January 2007 in print
- Troy, GilGil TroyGil Troy is an American academic. Troy is Professor of History at McGill University in Montreal and a Visiting Scholar affiliated with the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington....
. Why I Am a Zionist: Israel, Jewish Identity and the Challenges of Today. 3rd ed. 2001; Montreal: Bronfman Jewish Education CentreBronfman Jewish Education CentreThe Bronfman Jewish Education Centre is the planning and coordinating agency for Jewish community educational needs in Montreal, Quebec.-Description:...
, 2006. ISBN 1-552-34648-X (10). ISBN 978-155-234648-8 (13)
External links
- http://carterquestion.com/blog/?page_id=133 Carter Q&A: Carter Question Blog] hosted by Brandeis UniversityBrandeis UniversityBrandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...
faculty and students about the book pursuant to the Brandeis UniversityBrandeis UniversityBrandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...
visit by Jimmy Carter. Answers by Carter. Also presents links to transcript of Carter's opening remarks, books, and media coverage. (Registration required for participation). Documentary film by Jonathan DemmeJonathan DemmeRobert Jonathan Demme is an American filmmaker, producer and screenwriter. Best known for directing The Silence of the Lambs, which won him the Academy Award for Best Director, he has also directed the acclaimed movies Philadelphia, Rachel Getting Married, the Talking Heads concert movie Stop...
focusing on Jimmy Carter's book tour for Palestine Peace Not Apartheid. 2007