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Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid
Jimmy Carter
3.90
4,564 ratings586 reviews
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 UN 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, US 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.
GenresPoliticsNonfictionHistoryWarPolitical ScienceIsraelReligion
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288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
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Will Byrnes
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August 11, 2022
As might have been expected, Israeli and Jewish leaders were apoplectic at Carter for daring to criticize Israel. David Ross, who worked with Carter, had published an Op Ed in the NY Times excoriating Carter for a factual error he had made in identifying a map in the book. Fourteen members of the board of Carter’s foundation resigned in protest. So what is all the fuss about?
Jimmy Carter - image from USA TODAY
Carter has a fluid, if dry writing style. One reads him for information and analysis, not for literary inspiration. It is difficult to imagine the guy cracking a joke. There will be no whoopee cushions appearing unexpectedly under Roslynn at the dinner table. But Carter is arguably America’s greatest living statesman, a serious, religious fellow who puts his beliefs into practice by attempting to resolve international conflicts. He is a force for good in the world, and stands out when compared with the post White House activities many of the other ex-presidents. Nixon engaged almost exclusively in self-serving memoir writing. Reagan looked for the big payday giving million-dollar-a-pop speeches in Japan. 41 did some fishing and played a little golf before he teamed up with Bubba to do some concrete good. Ford dropped out of sight. I imagine 43 has maintained a low profile, spending his time clearing brush and enjoying holidays with his Saudi friends. Obama has been quiet, but has an activist organization working on important public issues and has been working on a project to help fix our gerrymandered congressional districting. Carter is the ex who has been the most engaged in the world on a global scale. He may be the only American who might have been ever been deemed a candidate for UN Secretary General. While one may agree or disagree with him on the particulars of specific international conflicts, only a maniac would contend that he is not a force for sanity in the world.
Carter offers specific information on what was agreed to when, what was said, what was understood re the various dealings between Israel, the Palestinians, and the national enemies at Israel’s borders. It is clear from his reportage that Israel does not live up to the innocent victim image it is so fond of presenting to the world. There is a common view that the Palestinians could have had over 90% of what they wanted in their negotiations with Israel if only Arafat had not been such a hard-ass. Carter offers a very detailed explanation for why that view is seriously at odds with reality. He concludes that what Israel has created, in the occupied territories, is a form of apartheid, in which the Palestinians play the role of South Africa’s blacks. It is a compelling case, particularly when Carter points out the actual significance of Israeli roads that not only divide the West Bank, but which engender cushion-space around them that Palestinians may not enter, when he points out that the pattern of Israeli construction is having the effect of chopping the West Bank up into islands of separate space, incapable of being joined into a single political entity, when he points out all the rights the Palestinians, in their own land, are denied. I’d be blowing things up too.
This view fits with what I have learned from other sources, both in books and from the journalists with whom I worked briefly a few years back. They told first hand accounts of Israeli soldiers who would taunt the local Palestinian youth and then when these people responded with tossed stones, the Israelis would slaughter them with automatic weapons. It was clear to me then that the perennial victims had taken on the attributes of their tormenters. If anything I believe Carter understates the case for the demise of moral authority in Israel. As in the USA, Israel is a nation that has come under the sway of extreme elements. Not all, or even certainly a majority of Israelis hold with the view of the extremists that all the land of the West Bank is really a part of Israel, but as long as extreme elements hold political power, and as long as they insist, despite UN condemnation and international law, on building more settlements in occupied territory, the problems there will only worsen. And it is clear that Israelis in power have every intention of absorbing large swaths of the West Bank into Israel-proper, in fact if not in law. It is no wonder that a disgusted populace rallied behind a murderous Hamas.
Jimmy Carter may not be the most dynamic writer, but he is very effective at presenting the information he has, and in offering his very informed take. If you are at all interested in Middle-East politics, Palestine: Peace not Apartheid is a must-read.
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EXTRA STUFF
July 31, 2018 - NY Times - the article points out the continuation of troubling extremist leadership in Israel. They’re ‘Blood Brothers’ With Israel’s Jews. But Druse Call New Law a Betrayal. It is eminently clear that the problems Jimmy Carter wrote about in 2006, are as relevant and dark today as they were then.
September 20, 2018 - NY Times - How Israel Undermined Washington and Stalled the Dream of Palestinian Statehood - by Seth Anziska
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Mk
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March 24, 2008
When I told my parents I was going to do solidarity work in Palestine, they - in the midst of yelling and tears - asked me why. I said that I wanted to be able to come back and talk about what I had seen. My father's retort was something along the lines of "What about Jimmy Carter's book? What could you possibly say that a Nobel prize winning well respected ex-president couldn't?"
A year after coming home, I finally read it. There's very little that Carter and I have to say that's the same, as we're coming from very different places. Nonetheless, I was much more impressed than I expected to be. Though my critiques of the occupation would be more bottom-up and scathing, Carter still goes *much* further than any mainstream politician in the US has in years. Due to his fame, respect, and ultimately whiteness and Christianity, this book has quickly become the 101 text on the Israel/Palestine/Middle East conflict. As mainstream 101 texts go, it is surprisingly good.
In large part, the book details various peace talks and the main players in them, a very top-down and at times impersonal view of the conflict. Carter repeatedly chastises both Israeli and Palestinian leaders for their refusal to compromise, but certainly criticizes the Israeli leaders more. He notes that many of the milestones Palestinians have to meet for negotiations to continue are impossible and unfair. For example, the idea that all suicide bombings must be stopped is impossible when 1) Israel is imprisoning many of Palestine's most influential politicians, 2) Israel's much larger military can't even do that and 3) the root cause of the conflict isn't being discussed. Carter repeatedly pegs the occupation (albeit the one beginning in 1967, not the one in 1948) as the source of the conflict and even refers to Israel as a colonial power. He notes that Arafat could not realistically accept any of the offers made to him by Israel, including the "generous offer," because Israel insisted on maintaining control of all borders, air space, ocean access, and elctromagnetic frequencies (radio, TV, etc).
It's not until the last chapter that Carter really talks about the Wall and other ways that Palestinian lives are daily affected by the occupation. It's a strong ending, though it not being discussed earlier might make it difficult for some people to understand the stances Palestinian leaders took in negotiations.
All in all, I was pleasantly surprised. It's not by any means the first book I would recommend to someone already politicized looking to learn about the occupation, but it is much more accessible to someone like my liberal yet Zionist father.
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Ted
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April 22, 2018
I felt this was an obviously truthful book, perhaps generating more controversy than it should have by using "apartheid" in the title. Carter has been in the Middle East so often (plus his inside knowledge from his years as President) that to think that he doesn't understand what is happening there is delusional. The last part of the book describes the Wall that Israel has constructed, which keeps the Palestinians away from Israeli (illegal) settlements, and makes it difficult for them to even get around in their own shrinking territory. The material he relates is infuriating and heartbreaking to read. Carter is truly a good person.
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Gary
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September 2, 2023
immy Carter is a despicable anti-Semite who holds a grudge against the Jewish people who he blames for his losing the 1980 Presidential
Election to Ronald Reagan.
Jimmy Carter is also a pathetic and immoral opportunist who has jumped on the 'hate Israel' bandwagon to get his wizened face back into the limelight.
Is Carter trying to remain in the limelight, at the expense of
Israel's people? And at the expense of peace , justice, and human rights (YES, folks, Israeli Jews have human rights too , it so happens)!
I intend, in this review, to answer some of Carter's repulsive charges against Israel and to show them up as the lies and blood libels which they are.
There are those who will challenge my characterization of Carter as an anti-Semite.
But here is proof that he is.
Singling out Israel for opprobrium and international sanction out of all proportion of any other Middle East country is anti-Semitic.
Especially coming from a man who connived to topple the enlightened and benevolent reign of Shah Reza Pahlavi, the two thousand year old
Persian Imperial house that gave full equality to women unlike, any other Islamic country at the time, other than perhaps Turkey.
He bares much blame for the repressive, cruel and genocidal Islamic
Fundamentalist regime of the diabolical Ayatollah Khomeini and his evil acolyte Mahmoud 'Haman' Ahmadinejad.
Comparing Israel and her leaders to the Nazis, as Carter does, is anti-semitic!
Anti-semitism is when Israel is held to a different standard than any other country in the world- as Carter does!
Anti-Semitism is when Israel is subjected to a unique double standard of judgement and criticism for it's actions in defending itself against threats to it's existance and population, as Carter does.
As is evident in the title of the book, Carter accuses Israel of being an Apartheid State. This is a vicious blood libel.
Almost 2 million people living in Israel are not Jews.
No laws on statute books prescribing living areas or movements.
Unlike under South African Aparthied laws there is no Israeli ideology, policy or plan to segregate mistreat or persecute the Arab population.
In Israel the State owns 93% of the land, which is leased to all citizens regardless of race. The remaining 7% can be bought by all
Israeli citizens.
There is no official seperate schoolig in Israel;people choose schools for their religious, linguistic or cultural background.
Non-Jews can become citizens if they comply with necessary imigration requirements as anywhere in the world.
Non-Jews can serve in the army as volunteers.
Israeli Arabs are full citizens, enjoy full political rights, can vote and stand for election and political association- hardly
Apartheid, Carter!
As regards the much maligned settlers, has Carter ever visited these communities he so maligns, I have!
They are beautiful and peaceful family orineted communities, half of them children, who are simply exercising the right to live in their ancient homeland. What is racist is the determination of the Arabs and their leftist supporters to get them off the land. since Biblical Times, Jews have lived in the West Bank and Gaza until forced to flee in 1948.
Jews have a biblical, historical and legal right to settle in the West Bank.
Under international law, territories are considered "occupied" only when taken in an act of agression.
These disputed territories were tkane by Israel ina defensive war against
Arab agression.
There are no signed agreements between Israel and the Arabs regarding buliding/expanding settlements.
Predictably Carter atacks the Security Fence built to keep Arab terrorists from getting into Israel and killing Jewish men, women and children.
It is to protect the lives of Israel's people, it is not racist as
Carter charges. It is only temporary and can be removed at any time when terrorist attacks end.
The international law, which Carter continually evokes to villify
Israel, does NOT ban expropriation of land in disputed territory completely. It bans only "extensive destruction and and appropriation of property not justified by millitary necesity.
The route of the fence is defined by security and topographical needs.
The security fence is NOT a wall (as reffered to by Israel-haters as the Apartheid Wall)
Only 5% of it's current length is concrete, near the most vulnerable and threatened Israeli areas.
The fence contains agricultural gates to enable farmers to continue cultivating their lands. Of course Carter does not mention this or any other truths inconvenient to his slander against Israel.
Carter calls for the return of the so-called 'refugees' as a way of destroying Israel and anihilating her people.
Some facts those who read Carter's propaganda pamphlet should remember:
In 1948 the Arabs were encouraged to leave Israel by their leaders, who promised to purge the land of Jews.
About 630 000 Arab refugees left Israel in 1948.
About 800 000 Jews fled Arab lands, where they had lived for centuries, with nothing more than the clothes on their backs. They were absorbed by Israel.
Arab refugees were intentionally not absorbed into Arab lands to which they fled so as tpo breed terrorism and push for the so- called "right of return" pushed by anti-Israeli racists like Jimmy
Carter.
The refugge problem is not soley between Israel and the 'Palestinian' Arabs but between Israel and the Arab States that attacked her in 1948.
Palestinian refugees have no legal right of return to Israel under the general international conventions, nor under major UN resolutions, nor under elevant agreements between parties.
To call for the 'return of "refugees"' as Carter does, is illegal.
Carter even implicitly defends suicide bombings.
Unlike what Carter declares, suicide bombings, it so happens, are not desperate acts.
Thos carrying them out are middle class, educated and brainwashed by evil fanatics.
These suicide bombers (or more correctly homicide bombers) fell themselves to be the ultimate heroic expressions of their communities and the political organizations which have primed them.
They thrive because of the specific political culture that fosters it, and believe in Paradise waiting for them after death.
Carter, also of course condemmns the targeted assasinations of evil mass-murdering terrorists like Ahmed Yassin, Abdulaziz Rantisi and
Mohammed Deif.
Hamas has declared a war of genocide against Israel and all of her
Jews down to the last child. All Hamas leaders are involved in and/or planning terrorist attacks and are therefore combatants.
Millitary and political wings of the terrorist groups Hamas, the
Popular Resistance Committees, Islamic Jihad and Al Qaeda overlap with no distinction.
The aim of Hamas et al is the same as the Nazis, the genocide of
Jews.
Therefore Israel's policy of targeting Hamas leaders for assassination is legal, Carter!
This book by Carter is a racist blood libel against the Israeli people and full of lies.
If you want truth and objectivity stay far away from it.
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Montzalee Wittmann
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December 18, 2016
Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid by Jimmy Carter is a book I bought new ten years ago. Yes, it is that old. The middle east has more issues now but this book is about the Arab/Israeli situation then. The book starts out giving a history of the region going back thousands of years and how the region has changed leadership. President Carter then speaks personally about his trips to the middle east and what he sees, how he feels, what is said, who he talks with, etc. He is open and honest and shows the reader what he is up against politically and socially. It is a good lesson on both. Throughout the book, his love for peace and prosperity for both sides comes through. Not for one side over the other. I am not sure how the negative reviews found these things, I looked. I found none of this. Jimmy Carter presented himself as a President as someone that the USA could be proud of and he continues to do so. He is sweet and tenderhearted, working for the underdog, for peace, prosperity world wide, and has since he has left office. He didn't have to, he could just be sitting around and golfing but he is driven to do good for mankind and this book's pages express this. He is not the best writer but what he does write tells this. He let's his feels show honestly. He is a man that continues to this day, even with cancer, working for others. That is why I chose to read this book on his birthday, after all these years, because he may not be here much longer, and I wanted my review up to show that I did read it and I agree. Peace, not apartheid. Thank you Mr President for being a role model for all.
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Richard Derus
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May 17, 2013
Book Circle Reads 16
Rating: 3.5* of five
The Publisher Says: 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.
My Review: I do not have a dog in this fight. I'm not Jewish, I'm not Palestinian, and I'm not Christian so this isn't homeland or holy land to me.
But I'm a human being, and a very committed secular humanist. Israel's right to exist should be inarguable. The Palestinian homeland should be self-governing. But NEITHER should be run by gawd, since such an entity doesn't exist, and the rule books that the religions here in conflict use are both so revolting and reprehensible.
President Carter is a wise man, and his book is packed with commonsensical compromises. For those reasons alone, there is no chance whatsoever that anyone in power will listen to him. Wisdom is the garlic to the vampires of politics, and common sense can't get any traction where gawd is in the debate.
One side or the other must lose. There is no compromise that will make both sides happy enough to stop killing each other in gawd's name. So the inevitable must occur: Victory for one, defeat for the other, and many more generations of blood spilled over a scrap of desert with little to recommend it.
This is what religion does, people: It makes hate roil the never-calm waters of the human soul. Its purpose is to divide, separate, blame, vilify. It is very very good at those things. The reason is that it was created by humankind in humankind's own worst image. There is nothing "divine" about it...just humans bein' themselves, murdering apes.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
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بثينة العيسى
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November 12, 2011
Mr. Carter is accused of anti-Semitism? Seriously? That's the opposite of the impression I had when reading his book and especially in the first 3 chapters.
I highly appreciate what he said about Gaza and mistreatments of the Palestinians especially in the last 5 years when the so-called "peace process" stopped.
I thought that he should express a direct blame to the brutal Israeli policies more than he did. I also think the US policies in recent years are contributing to eliminate any REAL peace attempts and that Mr. Carter should have said more about that.
After all these years he still sounds like a polite Politian.
Regardless, I'm so glad he wrote this book. It seems like he was filling a gap in the topic especially for Westerners. To us, Arabs, there is much more in it than this simplified analysis. There is pain and injustice.
My peace be upon you all, not APARTHEID!
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Mohammed Morsi
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November 24, 2017
This book is dead honest. It's a must read if you are interested in the Palestinian quest for freedom. It's not a road map nor is it a solution but it's consideration of what is sustainable. The Palestinian people deserve to be free to live a life free of segregation and oppression and this book highlights in simple terms what it means to replace an increasing moral decay, brought by decades of Zionist ideology and brainwash, with a peace. Co-existence in which ever form IS possible but it is only possible when the Zionist apartheid regime is replaced with a government that promotes a radical change in the way Israeli view or should view their brothers and sisters the Palestinians. And that would be the first small step in a giant leap towards a reconciliation that certainly doesn't need any more water under the bridge.
Jimmy Carter is the only honourable president the USA has ever had. He's not the best writer but his heart is in the right place. He has shared his thoughts and views and facts about one of the most pressing political and humanitarian issues of our time, the freedom for the Palestinians and the end of the apartheid in Israel.
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Tim
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October 21, 2024
This would appear on first glance to be a strong statement from a US President, particularly given the use of apartheid in the title, but nuance is critical and with the Palestine/Israel situation nuance is everything.
Carter portrays himself to be at the forefront of senior US leadership when it comes to recognizing the issues at hand yet at the very beginning in the timeline of events, he completely glosses over any reference to the word or specific event of the "Nakba" (Catastrophe in English) - the word Palestinians use for their ethnic cleansing upon the formation of the State of Israel in 1948. He mentions they fled as is the standard Zionist line but we have no real context as to why the Palestinians need to be occupied other than security and terrorism - never mind their right to resist the occupation and theft of their land - this is not specifically the focus. There's a critical difference between "terrorist" and "resistance fighter". Also the idea of "state terrorism" seems to not be relevant in the context of the continuous terrorism of occupation.
In fact, there's not much mention of the occupation directly until the end of the book. Confronting the roots of the colonial project, or further even definining it properly are the keys to solving it. The roots are ugly, there was backing by patron states from the start and the power disparity has never approached equality - even before 1948. He never addresses issues in the ideology of Zionism itself which insists upon the whole land belonging to an elevated ethnic group. Admitting this would change the entire outlook on the intentions of the Zionists which has played out exactly as an ethno-state might since this book's publication in 2006. Further settlements in the West Bank, a siege on Gaza, new Knesset laws establishing the primacy of Jews and ever greater violence, in fact the worst period of violence (especially when adding in the present war) that the land has seen in the past 100 years has shown that nothing of substance has ever been addressed.
Actions more than words and a clear understanding of the Palestinian grievances is critical to understanding history and to move forward towards peace if it's even possible in the near future. All Camp David did was neutralize Egypt as a potential support to the Palestinian issue. All Oslo did was allow Israel to kick the can down the road while they continued in their settlement rush. All the Jordan peace arrangement provided was neutralization on Palestine's east border. All that has been accomplished are the conditions for further Israeli expansion and genocide. Actions since have shown all this to be true.
With all of this in consideration, books like this are potentially dangerous as a sly cover to the truth. Palestinians are presented as hopeless negotiating partners when they refuse peace deals that any sane person would never accept - deals for peace at the cost of permanent occupation and a rejection of autonomy in selecting leaders and policies. On the other hand the true intentions of the Israelis - by continuing expansion of settlements and occupation of Palestinians to allow it to happen - is never looked at directly despite the facts of history. There is no reason for this to stop. Zionist ideology believes the entire land to be theirs and until that fact is faced we are going to see the continuation of what is happening in front of us - the erasue of Palestinians from the land by whatever means necessary, genocide, domicide, cultural genocide, and the continued re-writing and denial of Palestinian history.
I want to believe Carter had good intentions and perhaps he did. The cynic in me says that he knew exactly what was happening, that the agreements would provide the Palestinians nothing of substance and that Carter's actions were to show that the US was putting forth a serious effort at establishing peace. It was political theater and nothing more. If I'm wrong I'd like to be shown how any of the actions described in the book - or the book itself - have changed things for the better. Maybe it's inspired someone to read further, then great. But I would never recommend this book as a starting point for clear understanding.
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Ahmed Gamal
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October 22, 2022
التقييمات على الكتب من النوع ده بتتقدر بحجم الاستفادة من المعلومات-اللي كانت نوعا ما جيده هنا- وترتيب المعلومات بشكل سلس والربط ما بين الأحداث والشواهد واللى كانت أقل إلى حد ما في الكتاب.
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July 31, 2018 - NY Times - the article points out the continuation of troubling extremist leadership in Israel. They’re ‘Blood Brothers’ With Israel’s Jews. But Druse Call New Law a Betrayal. It is eminently clear that the problems Jimmy Carter wrote about in 2006, are as relevant and dark today as they were then.
September 20, 2018 - NY Times - How Israel Undermined Washington and Stalled the Dream of Palestinian Statehood - by Seth Anziska
nonfiction
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Mk
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March 24, 2008
When I told my parents I was going to do solidarity work in Palestine, they - in the midst of yelling and tears - asked me why. I said that I wanted to be able to come back and talk about what I had seen. My father's retort was something along the lines of "What about Jimmy Carter's book? What could you possibly say that a Nobel prize winning well respected ex-president couldn't?"
A year after coming home, I finally read it. There's very little that Carter and I have to say that's the same, as we're coming from very different places. Nonetheless, I was much more impressed than I expected to be. Though my critiques of the occupation would be more bottom-up and scathing, Carter still goes *much* further than any mainstream politician in the US has in years. Due to his fame, respect, and ultimately whiteness and Christianity, this book has quickly become the 101 text on the Israel/Palestine/Middle East conflict. As mainstream 101 texts go, it is surprisingly good.
In large part, the book details various peace talks and the main players in them, a very top-down and at times impersonal view of the conflict. Carter repeatedly chastises both Israeli and Palestinian leaders for their refusal to compromise, but certainly criticizes the Israeli leaders more. He notes that many of the milestones Palestinians have to meet for negotiations to continue are impossible and unfair. For example, the idea that all suicide bombings must be stopped is impossible when 1) Israel is imprisoning many of Palestine's most influential politicians, 2) Israel's much larger military can't even do that and 3) the root cause of the conflict isn't being discussed. Carter repeatedly pegs the occupation (albeit the one beginning in 1967, not the one in 1948) as the source of the conflict and even refers to Israel as a colonial power. He notes that Arafat could not realistically accept any of the offers made to him by Israel, including the "generous offer," because Israel insisted on maintaining control of all borders, air space, ocean access, and elctromagnetic frequencies (radio, TV, etc).
It's not until the last chapter that Carter really talks about the Wall and other ways that Palestinian lives are daily affected by the occupation. It's a strong ending, though it not being discussed earlier might make it difficult for some people to understand the stances Palestinian leaders took in negotiations.
All in all, I was pleasantly surprised. It's not by any means the first book I would recommend to someone already politicized looking to learn about the occupation, but it is much more accessible to someone like my liberal yet Zionist father.
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Ted
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April 22, 2018
I felt this was an obviously truthful book, perhaps generating more controversy than it should have by using "apartheid" in the title. Carter has been in the Middle East so often (plus his inside knowledge from his years as President) that to think that he doesn't understand what is happening there is delusional. The last part of the book describes the Wall that Israel has constructed, which keeps the Palestinians away from Israeli (illegal) settlements, and makes it difficult for them to even get around in their own shrinking territory. The material he relates is infuriating and heartbreaking to read. Carter is truly a good person.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Previous review: Oblomov
Next review: Pafko at the Wall the opening section of Underworld
More recent review: Clockwork Orange
Previous library review: Yellow Wind Grossman
Next library review: India After Gandhi
current-affairs have history-asia
...more
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Gary
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September 2, 2023
immy Carter is a despicable anti-Semite who holds a grudge against the Jewish people who he blames for his losing the 1980 Presidential
Election to Ronald Reagan.
Jimmy Carter is also a pathetic and immoral opportunist who has jumped on the 'hate Israel' bandwagon to get his wizened face back into the limelight.
Is Carter trying to remain in the limelight, at the expense of
Israel's people? And at the expense of peace , justice, and human rights (YES, folks, Israeli Jews have human rights too , it so happens)!
I intend, in this review, to answer some of Carter's repulsive charges against Israel and to show them up as the lies and blood libels which they are.
There are those who will challenge my characterization of Carter as an anti-Semite.
But here is proof that he is.
Singling out Israel for opprobrium and international sanction out of all proportion of any other Middle East country is anti-Semitic.
Especially coming from a man who connived to topple the enlightened and benevolent reign of Shah Reza Pahlavi, the two thousand year old
Persian Imperial house that gave full equality to women unlike, any other Islamic country at the time, other than perhaps Turkey.
He bares much blame for the repressive, cruel and genocidal Islamic
Fundamentalist regime of the diabolical Ayatollah Khomeini and his evil acolyte Mahmoud 'Haman' Ahmadinejad.
Comparing Israel and her leaders to the Nazis, as Carter does, is anti-semitic!
Anti-semitism is when Israel is held to a different standard than any other country in the world- as Carter does!
Anti-Semitism is when Israel is subjected to a unique double standard of judgement and criticism for it's actions in defending itself against threats to it's existance and population, as Carter does.
As is evident in the title of the book, Carter accuses Israel of being an Apartheid State. This is a vicious blood libel.
Almost 2 million people living in Israel are not Jews.
No laws on statute books prescribing living areas or movements.
Unlike under South African Aparthied laws there is no Israeli ideology, policy or plan to segregate mistreat or persecute the Arab population.
In Israel the State owns 93% of the land, which is leased to all citizens regardless of race. The remaining 7% can be bought by all
Israeli citizens.
There is no official seperate schoolig in Israel;people choose schools for their religious, linguistic or cultural background.
Non-Jews can become citizens if they comply with necessary imigration requirements as anywhere in the world.
Non-Jews can serve in the army as volunteers.
Israeli Arabs are full citizens, enjoy full political rights, can vote and stand for election and political association- hardly
Apartheid, Carter!
As regards the much maligned settlers, has Carter ever visited these communities he so maligns, I have!
They are beautiful and peaceful family orineted communities, half of them children, who are simply exercising the right to live in their ancient homeland. What is racist is the determination of the Arabs and their leftist supporters to get them off the land. since Biblical Times, Jews have lived in the West Bank and Gaza until forced to flee in 1948.
Jews have a biblical, historical and legal right to settle in the West Bank.
Under international law, territories are considered "occupied" only when taken in an act of agression.
These disputed territories were tkane by Israel ina defensive war against
Arab agression.
There are no signed agreements between Israel and the Arabs regarding buliding/expanding settlements.
Predictably Carter atacks the Security Fence built to keep Arab terrorists from getting into Israel and killing Jewish men, women and children.
It is to protect the lives of Israel's people, it is not racist as
Carter charges. It is only temporary and can be removed at any time when terrorist attacks end.
The international law, which Carter continually evokes to villify
Israel, does NOT ban expropriation of land in disputed territory completely. It bans only "extensive destruction and and appropriation of property not justified by millitary necesity.
The route of the fence is defined by security and topographical needs.
The security fence is NOT a wall (as reffered to by Israel-haters as the Apartheid Wall)
Only 5% of it's current length is concrete, near the most vulnerable and threatened Israeli areas.
The fence contains agricultural gates to enable farmers to continue cultivating their lands. Of course Carter does not mention this or any other truths inconvenient to his slander against Israel.
Carter calls for the return of the so-called 'refugees' as a way of destroying Israel and anihilating her people.
Some facts those who read Carter's propaganda pamphlet should remember:
In 1948 the Arabs were encouraged to leave Israel by their leaders, who promised to purge the land of Jews.
About 630 000 Arab refugees left Israel in 1948.
About 800 000 Jews fled Arab lands, where they had lived for centuries, with nothing more than the clothes on their backs. They were absorbed by Israel.
Arab refugees were intentionally not absorbed into Arab lands to which they fled so as tpo breed terrorism and push for the so- called "right of return" pushed by anti-Israeli racists like Jimmy
Carter.
The refugge problem is not soley between Israel and the 'Palestinian' Arabs but between Israel and the Arab States that attacked her in 1948.
Palestinian refugees have no legal right of return to Israel under the general international conventions, nor under major UN resolutions, nor under elevant agreements between parties.
To call for the 'return of "refugees"' as Carter does, is illegal.
Carter even implicitly defends suicide bombings.
Unlike what Carter declares, suicide bombings, it so happens, are not desperate acts.
Thos carrying them out are middle class, educated and brainwashed by evil fanatics.
These suicide bombers (or more correctly homicide bombers) fell themselves to be the ultimate heroic expressions of their communities and the political organizations which have primed them.
They thrive because of the specific political culture that fosters it, and believe in Paradise waiting for them after death.
Carter, also of course condemmns the targeted assasinations of evil mass-murdering terrorists like Ahmed Yassin, Abdulaziz Rantisi and
Mohammed Deif.
Hamas has declared a war of genocide against Israel and all of her
Jews down to the last child. All Hamas leaders are involved in and/or planning terrorist attacks and are therefore combatants.
Millitary and political wings of the terrorist groups Hamas, the
Popular Resistance Committees, Islamic Jihad and Al Qaeda overlap with no distinction.
The aim of Hamas et al is the same as the Nazis, the genocide of
Jews.
Therefore Israel's policy of targeting Hamas leaders for assassination is legal, Carter!
This book by Carter is a racist blood libel against the Israeli people and full of lies.
If you want truth and objectivity stay far away from it.
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Montzalee Wittmann
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December 18, 2016
Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid by Jimmy Carter is a book I bought new ten years ago. Yes, it is that old. The middle east has more issues now but this book is about the Arab/Israeli situation then. The book starts out giving a history of the region going back thousands of years and how the region has changed leadership. President Carter then speaks personally about his trips to the middle east and what he sees, how he feels, what is said, who he talks with, etc. He is open and honest and shows the reader what he is up against politically and socially. It is a good lesson on both. Throughout the book, his love for peace and prosperity for both sides comes through. Not for one side over the other. I am not sure how the negative reviews found these things, I looked. I found none of this. Jimmy Carter presented himself as a President as someone that the USA could be proud of and he continues to do so. He is sweet and tenderhearted, working for the underdog, for peace, prosperity world wide, and has since he has left office. He didn't have to, he could just be sitting around and golfing but he is driven to do good for mankind and this book's pages express this. He is not the best writer but what he does write tells this. He let's his feels show honestly. He is a man that continues to this day, even with cancer, working for others. That is why I chose to read this book on his birthday, after all these years, because he may not be here much longer, and I wanted my review up to show that I did read it and I agree. Peace, not apartheid. Thank you Mr President for being a role model for all.
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Richard Derus
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May 17, 2013
Book Circle Reads 16
Rating: 3.5* of five
The Publisher Says: 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.
My Review: I do not have a dog in this fight. I'm not Jewish, I'm not Palestinian, and I'm not Christian so this isn't homeland or holy land to me.
But I'm a human being, and a very committed secular humanist. Israel's right to exist should be inarguable. The Palestinian homeland should be self-governing. But NEITHER should be run by gawd, since such an entity doesn't exist, and the rule books that the religions here in conflict use are both so revolting and reprehensible.
President Carter is a wise man, and his book is packed with commonsensical compromises. For those reasons alone, there is no chance whatsoever that anyone in power will listen to him. Wisdom is the garlic to the vampires of politics, and common sense can't get any traction where gawd is in the debate.
One side or the other must lose. There is no compromise that will make both sides happy enough to stop killing each other in gawd's name. So the inevitable must occur: Victory for one, defeat for the other, and many more generations of blood spilled over a scrap of desert with little to recommend it.
This is what religion does, people: It makes hate roil the never-calm waters of the human soul. Its purpose is to divide, separate, blame, vilify. It is very very good at those things. The reason is that it was created by humankind in humankind's own worst image. There is nothing "divine" about it...just humans bein' themselves, murdering apes.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
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بثينة العيسى
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November 12, 2011
Mr. Carter is accused of anti-Semitism? Seriously? That's the opposite of the impression I had when reading his book and especially in the first 3 chapters.
I highly appreciate what he said about Gaza and mistreatments of the Palestinians especially in the last 5 years when the so-called "peace process" stopped.
I thought that he should express a direct blame to the brutal Israeli policies more than he did. I also think the US policies in recent years are contributing to eliminate any REAL peace attempts and that Mr. Carter should have said more about that.
After all these years he still sounds like a polite Politian.
Regardless, I'm so glad he wrote this book. It seems like he was filling a gap in the topic especially for Westerners. To us, Arabs, there is much more in it than this simplified analysis. There is pain and injustice.
My peace be upon you all, not APARTHEID!
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Mohammed Morsi
Author 13 books143 followers
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November 24, 2017
This book is dead honest. It's a must read if you are interested in the Palestinian quest for freedom. It's not a road map nor is it a solution but it's consideration of what is sustainable. The Palestinian people deserve to be free to live a life free of segregation and oppression and this book highlights in simple terms what it means to replace an increasing moral decay, brought by decades of Zionist ideology and brainwash, with a peace. Co-existence in which ever form IS possible but it is only possible when the Zionist apartheid regime is replaced with a government that promotes a radical change in the way Israeli view or should view their brothers and sisters the Palestinians. And that would be the first small step in a giant leap towards a reconciliation that certainly doesn't need any more water under the bridge.
Jimmy Carter is the only honourable president the USA has ever had. He's not the best writer but his heart is in the right place. He has shared his thoughts and views and facts about one of the most pressing political and humanitarian issues of our time, the freedom for the Palestinians and the end of the apartheid in Israel.
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Tim
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October 21, 2024
This would appear on first glance to be a strong statement from a US President, particularly given the use of apartheid in the title, but nuance is critical and with the Palestine/Israel situation nuance is everything.
Carter portrays himself to be at the forefront of senior US leadership when it comes to recognizing the issues at hand yet at the very beginning in the timeline of events, he completely glosses over any reference to the word or specific event of the "Nakba" (Catastrophe in English) - the word Palestinians use for their ethnic cleansing upon the formation of the State of Israel in 1948. He mentions they fled as is the standard Zionist line but we have no real context as to why the Palestinians need to be occupied other than security and terrorism - never mind their right to resist the occupation and theft of their land - this is not specifically the focus. There's a critical difference between "terrorist" and "resistance fighter". Also the idea of "state terrorism" seems to not be relevant in the context of the continuous terrorism of occupation.
In fact, there's not much mention of the occupation directly until the end of the book. Confronting the roots of the colonial project, or further even definining it properly are the keys to solving it. The roots are ugly, there was backing by patron states from the start and the power disparity has never approached equality - even before 1948. He never addresses issues in the ideology of Zionism itself which insists upon the whole land belonging to an elevated ethnic group. Admitting this would change the entire outlook on the intentions of the Zionists which has played out exactly as an ethno-state might since this book's publication in 2006. Further settlements in the West Bank, a siege on Gaza, new Knesset laws establishing the primacy of Jews and ever greater violence, in fact the worst period of violence (especially when adding in the present war) that the land has seen in the past 100 years has shown that nothing of substance has ever been addressed.
Actions more than words and a clear understanding of the Palestinian grievances is critical to understanding history and to move forward towards peace if it's even possible in the near future. All Camp David did was neutralize Egypt as a potential support to the Palestinian issue. All Oslo did was allow Israel to kick the can down the road while they continued in their settlement rush. All the Jordan peace arrangement provided was neutralization on Palestine's east border. All that has been accomplished are the conditions for further Israeli expansion and genocide. Actions since have shown all this to be true.
With all of this in consideration, books like this are potentially dangerous as a sly cover to the truth. Palestinians are presented as hopeless negotiating partners when they refuse peace deals that any sane person would never accept - deals for peace at the cost of permanent occupation and a rejection of autonomy in selecting leaders and policies. On the other hand the true intentions of the Israelis - by continuing expansion of settlements and occupation of Palestinians to allow it to happen - is never looked at directly despite the facts of history. There is no reason for this to stop. Zionist ideology believes the entire land to be theirs and until that fact is faced we are going to see the continuation of what is happening in front of us - the erasue of Palestinians from the land by whatever means necessary, genocide, domicide, cultural genocide, and the continued re-writing and denial of Palestinian history.
I want to believe Carter had good intentions and perhaps he did. The cynic in me says that he knew exactly what was happening, that the agreements would provide the Palestinians nothing of substance and that Carter's actions were to show that the US was putting forth a serious effort at establishing peace. It was political theater and nothing more. If I'm wrong I'd like to be shown how any of the actions described in the book - or the book itself - have changed things for the better. Maybe it's inspired someone to read further, then great. But I would never recommend this book as a starting point for clear understanding.
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Ahmed Gamal
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October 22, 2022
التقييمات على الكتب من النوع ده بتتقدر بحجم الاستفادة من المعلومات-اللي كانت نوعا ما جيده هنا- وترتيب المعلومات بشكل سلس والربط ما بين الأحداث والشواهد واللى كانت أقل إلى حد ما في الكتاب.
non-fiction في-مكتبتي مترجمات
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