Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid

See also: Commentary on Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid

Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid

Cover showing the author, left, and protesters at the Israeli West Bank barrier, right
Author	Jimmy Carter
Cover artist	Michael Accordino
Country	United States of America
Language	English
Subject	Political Science
Publisher	Simon & Schuster
Publication date	14 November 2006
Media type	Hardback
Pages	264
ISBN	ISBN 978-0-7432-8502-5
Preceded by	Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis

Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid is a New York Times Best Seller written by Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States (1977–1981) and winner of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, and published by Simon and Schuster in November 2006. While President, Carter hosted talks between Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin in 1978 that led to a comprehensive peace treaty between Israel and Egypt, and, since his presidency, he has occasionally commented on the Arab-Israeli conflict. 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 Holy Land." That perspective coupled with Apartheid in the book's subtitle Peace Not Apartheid has raised great controversy throughout the mass media and academia and led to fourteen resignations from the Carter Center Board of Councilors. Carter has defended his book against various charges ranging from "lies" and "distortions" to "anti-Semitism", while noting its favorable popular reception by readers "in the real world."

Further information: § Book_excerpts, and § Book_summary

Purpose, main argument, and major points

"The ultimate purpose"

The ultimate purpose of my book is to present facts about the Middle East that are largely unknown in America, to precipitate discussion and to help restart peace talks (now absent for six years) that can lead to permanent peace for Israel and its neighbors. Another hope is that Jews and other Americans who share this same goal might be motivated to express their views, even publicly, and perhaps in concert. I would be glad to help with that effort.

Thesis: How to achieve "permanent peace in the Middle East"

Carter identifies "two interrelated obstacles to permanent peace in the Middle East":

[1] Some Israelis believe they have the right to confiscate and colonize Palestinian land and try to justify the sustained subjugation and persecution of increasingly hopeless and aggravated Palestinians; and

[2] Some Palestinians react by honoring suicide bombers as martyrs to be rewarded in heaven and consider the killing of Israelis as victories.

To bring an end to what he calls "this continuing tragedy," in Chapter 17 ("Summary"), Carter calls for a revitalization of the peace process following these two "key requirements":

a. The security of Israel must be guaranteed. The Arabs must acknowledge openly and specifically that Israel is a reality and has a right to exist in peace, behind secure and recognized borders, and with a firm Arab pledge to terminate any further acts of violence against the legally constituted nation of Israel.

b. The internal debate within Israel must be resolved in order to define Israel's permanent legal boundary. The unwavering official policy of the United States since Israel became a state has been that its borders must coincide with those prevailing [sic] from 1949 until 1967 (unless modified by mutually agreeable land swaps), specified in the unanimously adopted U.N. Resolution 242, which mandates Israel's withdrawal from occupied territories. This obligation was reconfirmed by Israel's leaders in agreements negotiated in 1978 at Camp David and in 1993 at Oslo, for which they received the Nobel Peace Prize, and both of these commitments were officially ratified by the Israeli government. Also, as a member of the International Quartet that includes Russia, the United Nations, and the European Union, America supports the Roadmap for Peace, which espouses exactly the same requirements. Palestinian leaders unequivocally accepted this proposal, but Israel has officially rejected its key provisions with unacceptable caveats and prerequisites.

"Some major points"

In his recent op-ed entitled "Reiterating the Keys to Peace," published in the Boston Globe on December 20, 2006, Jimmy Carter summarizes what he calls "[s]ome major points in the book":

• Multiple deaths of innocent civilians have occurred on both sides, and this violence and all terrorism must cease.
• For 39 years, Israel has occupied Palestinian land, and has confiscated and colonized hundreds of choice sites.
• Often excluded from their former homes, land, and places of worship, protesting Palestinians have been severely dominated and oppressed. There is forced segregation between Israeli settlers and Palestine's citizens, with a complex pass system required for Arabs to traverse Israel's multiple checkpoints.
• An enormous wall snakes through populated areas of what is left of the West Bank, constructed on wide swaths of bulldozed trees and property of Arab families, obviously designed to acquire more territory and to protect the Israeli colonies already built. (Hamas declared a unilateral cease-fire in August 2004 as its candidates sought local and then national offices, which they claim is the reason for reductions in casualties to Israeli citizens.)
• Combined with this wall, Israeli control of the Jordan River Valley will completely enclose Palestinians in their shrunken and divided territory. Gaza is surrounded by a similar barrier with only two openings, still controlled by Israel. The crowded citizens have no free access to the outside world by air, sea, or land.
• The Palestinian people are now being deprived of the necessities of life by economic restrictions imposed on them by Israel and the United States because 42 percent voted for Hamas candidates in this year's election. Teachers, nurses, policemen, firemen, and other employees cannot be paid, and the UN has reported food supplies in Gaza equivalent to those among the poorest families in sub-Sahara Africa, with half the families surviving on one meal a day.
• Mahmoud Abbas, first as prime minister and now as president of the Palestinian National Authority and leader of the PLO, has sought to negotiate with Israel for almost six years, without success. Hamas leaders support such negotiations, promising to accept the results if approved by a Palestinian referendum.
• UN Resolutions, the Camp David Accords of 1978, the Oslo Agreement of 1993, official US Policy, and the International Roadmap for Peace are all based on the premise that Israel withdraw from occupied territories. Also, Palestinians must accept the same commitment made by the 23 Arab nations in 2002: to recognize Israel's right to live in peace within its legal borders. These are the two keys to peace. (Bullets added.)

See also: § Book_summary

See also: § Related_opinion-editorials_and_interviews_by_Jimmy_Carter

Critical reaction and commentary

Main article: Commentary on Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid

The overall critical response to Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid has been mixed. Some journalists and academics have praised Carter's book, specifically lauding his courage for speaking honestly about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a media environment which they believe to be hostile to opponents of Israel's policies. Others, however, have been more negative. According to The New York Times, 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 of the book's 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. Some reviewers 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. One reviewer stresses that Carter's "overstatement" in the book "hardly adds up to anti-Semitism," as some American Jewish leaders have charged, and the national director of the Anti-Defamation League later said that he would not "call" the former president himself an "anti-Semite" or a "bigot". Several familiar with Israeli press reportage, including some Israeli politicians, argue that Carter's critique of Israeli policy in the Palestinian territories reflects that of many Israelis themselves.

See also: § Carter's response to criticism of the book

Selected positive reactions to the book

Journalists and other media commentators

Brad Hooper, Adult Books Editor at Booklist, the review journal for public and school libraries published by the American Library Association, concludes his review published on October 15, 2006: "The former president's ideas are expressed with perfect clarity; his book, of course, represents a personal point of view, but one that is certainly grounded in both knowledge and wisdom. His outlook on the problem not only contributes to the literature of debate surrounding it but also, just as importantly, delivers a worthy game plan for clearing up the dilemma."

Israeli historian and author Tom Segev writes in the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz on December 12], 2006:

The book is causing an uproar among those in America who consider themselves as "friends of Israel," for one thing because of its title: "Palestine - Peace Not Apartheid." . . . Predictably, some are accusing Carter of anti-Semitism. Carter is closely following the responses, including on the Internet, and responding to his critics. He is prepared to lecture for free about his views –– but Jews don't want to hear, he complains. An Israeli reader won't find anything more in the book than is written in the newspapers here every day. . . . One reason the book is outraging "friends of Israel" in America is that it requires them to reformulate their friendship: If they truly want what's good for Israel, they must call on it to rid itself of the territories. People don't like to admit that they've erred; therefore, they're angry at Carter."

British journalist Robert Fisk, Middle East correspondent for the London Independent and a resident of Beirut, Lebanon for the past twenty-five years, declares in his article of December 23, 2006 that the book is "a good, strong read by the only American president approaching sainthood," adding: "Needless to say, the American press and television largely ignored the appearance of this eminently sensible book - until the usual Israeli lobbyists began to scream abuse at poor old Jimmy Carter, albeit that he was the architect of the longest lasting peace treaty between Israel and an Arab neighbour - Egypt - secured with the famous 1978 Camp David accords."

Representatives of Organizations

On November 15, 2006, in an article published on the website of the Institute for Middle East Understanding––an organization which "provides journalists with quick access to information about Palestine and the Palestinians, as well as expert sources, both in the U.S. and the Middle East"––Lena Khalaf Tuffaha finds that Carter's book "eloquently describes the situation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip" and that "his book challenges Americans to see the conflict with eyes wide open."

Writing in The Nation on November 20, 2006, Michael F. Brown, a fellow at The Palestine Center of The Jerusalem Fund, a non-profit organization working to raise funds to the aid of Palestinian people, and former executive director of Partners for Peace and Washington correspondent for Middle East International, characterizes the book's title as "extraordinarily bold--and apt" and suggests: "Perhaps President Carter should send copies of his book to members of Congress. . . . [so that] they might learn a thing or two about the long-festering conflict at the heart of so many of our current troubles in the region."

On December 5, 2006, in the The Arab American News, a weekly bilingual newspaper representing Arab Americans published in Dearborn, Michigan, Sherri Muzher, Palestinian-American director of Michigan Media Watch, an organization aimed at "Combating bias in Michigan's media by promoting accurate, factual and balanced coverage of the Middle East," writes: "Nobody expects instant miracles to come from Carter’s book, but hopefully, it will spark the sort of robust discussions that even Israeli society and media already engage in."

As posted in TomPaine.com, an "online public affairs journal of progressive analysis and commentary," on December 6, 2006, Rabbi Michael Lerner, the editor of Tikkun, calls Carter "the only president to have actually delivered for the Jewish people an agreement (the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt) that has stood the test of time." He continues: "We know that critique is often an essential part of love and caring. That is precisely what Jimmy Carter is trying to do for Israel and the Jewish people in his new book". He further stresses that "Carter does not claim that Israel is an apartheid state. What he does claim is that the West Bank will be a de facto apartheid situation if the current dynamics . . . continue."

In his column published in the Toronto Sun on December 15, 2006, Canadian labour union leader Sid Ryan writes: "Former U.S. president Carter is just the latest world figure to openly challenge the policies of Israel in Gaza and the West Bank. He joins Rev. Desmond Tutu, another Nobel Prize winner. Each time a trade union or church group or world leader steps forward to break the cone of silence around this issue, the more difficult it becomes for the lobby groups to spew their propaganda."

Ali Abunimah, co-founder and editor of the Electronic Intifada and author of One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse (Metropolitan, 2006), begins his editorial on the book in the Wall Street Journal:

President Carter has done what few American politicians have dared to do: speak frankly about the Israel-Palestine conflict. He has done this nation, and the cause of peace, an enormous service by focusing attention on what he calls "the abominable oppression and persecution in the occupied Palestinian territories, with a rigid system of required passes and strict segregation between Palestine's citizens and Jewish settlers in the West Bank."

Calling Carter "the most successful Arab-Israeli peace negotiator to date," Abunimah praises him for having "braved a storm of criticism, including the insinuation from the pro-Israel Anti-Defamation League that his arguments are anti-Semitic."

From Israel, the Israeli politician and Knesset member Yossi Beilin writes that, while he "disagreed . . . mostly with the choice of language, including his choice of the word 'apartheid' . . . what Carter says in his book about the Israeli occupation and our treatment of Palestinians in the occupied territories — and perhaps no less important, how he says it — is entirely harmonious with the kind of criticism that Israelis themselves voice about their own country. There is nothing in the criticism that Carter has for Israel that has not been said by Israelis themselves."

Academics

South African professor of international law John Dugard, who has served as Judge ad hoc on the International Court of Justice and as a Special Rapporteur for both the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and the International Law Commission, specifically as "Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel since 1967," observes, in an op-ed published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on November 29, 2006, that while Carter's book "is igniting controversy for its allegation that Israel practices a form of apartheid," he supports the bases for Carter's analogy: "Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories has many features of colonization" and "at the same time . . . many of the worst characteristics of apartheid."

Main article: Allegations of Israeli apartheid

In the London Financial Times, Zbigniew Brzezinski, former National Security Agency (NSA) advisor to President Carter and current professor of American foreign policy at the Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies and a scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, agrees with the main thesis of the book:

President Carter, in my judgement, is correct in fearing that the absence of a fair and mutually acceptable resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is likely to produce a situation which de facto will resemble apartheid: i.e., two communities living side by side but repressively separated, with one enjoying prosperity and seizing the lands of the other, and the other living in poverty and deprivation. That is an outcome which must be avoided and I interpret his book as a strong plea for accommodation, which needs to be actively promoted by morally responsible engagement especially by America.

Brzezinski also condemns the "abusive reactions directed at [President Carter], including some newspaper ads" for being "objectionable and designed to intimidate an open public discussion."

UCLA professor of English literature Saree Makdisi, a frequent commentator on the Middle East, writes, in the San Francisco Chronicle, that "Carter's apartheid charge rings true," observing: "Israel maintains two sets of rules and regulations in the West Bank: one for Jews, one for non-Jews. The only thing wrong with using the word 'apartheid' to describe such a repugnant system is that the South African version of institutionalized discrimination was never as elaborate as its Israeli counterpart--nor did it have such a vocal chorus of defenders among otherwise liberal Americans."

In an essay published in The Nation (issue of 22 Jan. 2007, posted online 4 Jan. 2007), Henry Siegman, a former senior fellow and director for the U.S./Middle East Project of the Council on Foreign Relations, former executive director of the American Jewish Congress, and visiting professor in the Sir Joseph Hotung Middle East Program at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, begins by observing that the "book's title more than its content" caused an "uproar" even prior to publication, because it "seemed to suggest that the avatar of democracy in the Middle East may be on its way to creating a political order that resembles South Africa's apartheid model of discrimination and repression, albeit on ethnic-religious rather than racial grounds" and provoked such controversy due to "the ignorance of the American political establishment, both Democrat and Republican, on the subject of the Israel-Palestine conflict"; in Siegman's view: "Carter's harsh condemnation of Israeli policies in the occupied territories is not the consequence of ideology or of an anti-Israel bias. . . . Accusations by Alan Dershowitz and others that Carter is indifferent to Israel's security only prove that no good deed goes unpunished."

Norman Finkelstein, an assistant professor of political science at DePaul University and author of numerous books relating to the Arab-Israeli conflict and anti-Semitism such as Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict (1995), The Rise and Fall of Palestine: A Personal Account of the Intifada Years (1998), The Holocaust Industry (2003), and Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History (2005), defends Carter's analysis in Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid as (in his view) both historically accurate and non-controversial outside the United States: "After four decades of Israeli occupation, the infrastructure and superstructure of apartheid have been put in place. Outside the never-never land of mainstream American Jewry and U.S. media[,] this reality is barely disputed."

George Bisharat, a professor at the University of California, Hastings College of Law, begins his "Commentary" on the book in The Philadelphia Inquirer of January 2, 2007: "Americans owe a debt to former President Jimmy Carter for speaking long hidden but vital truths. His book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid breaks the taboo barring criticism in the United States of Israel's discriminatory treatment of Palestinians. Our government's tacit acceptance of Israel's unfair policies causes global hostility against us."

Selected negative reactions to the book

Journalists and other media commentators

In "What Would Jimmy Do?" (subtitled: "A Former President Puts the Onus for Resolving the Mideast Conflict on the Israelis"), published in the Washington Post, staff writer for The New Yorker Jeffrey Goldberg, a native of New York who moved to Israel while in college and served in the Israeli Defense Forces as a prison guard during the First Intifada, describes Carter as a "partisan of the Palestinians" who has offered a "notably benign view of Hamas" and who, he alleges, creates "sins to hang around the necks of Jews when no sins have actually been committed" as Carter "blames Israel almost entirely for perpetuating the hundred-year war between Arab and Jew." The featuring of this book review by Goldberg as one of three "editorial reviews" listed with the book by Amazon.com has raised a "campaign" to boycott the online retailer by the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), which has alleged that Goldberg is "biased" and "hostile against Carter's viewpoint," demanding that the review be moved to "'See all Editorial Reviews' page" by January 22, 2007.

See also: § Protests and boycotts related to the book and its reception

In "Jews, Arabs and Jimmy Carter," published in the New York Times Book Review of January 7, 2007, deputy foreign editor of The New York Times Ethan Bronner, draws attention to what he describes as "the narrowness of Carter’s perspective," and argues that Carter fails to highlight legitimate objections to Israel's current policies in the course of "simply offer[ing] a narrative that is largely unsympathetic to Israel" while engaging in some "misrepresentations . . . [which] are a shame because most of what Carter focuses on is well worth reading about." To Bronner "Carter's picture feels like yesterday’s story, especially since Israel’s departures from southern Lebanon and Gaza have not stopped anti-Israel violence from those areas. . . . This book has something of a Rip van Winkle feel to it, as if little had changed since Carter diagnosed the problem in the 1970s." Despite his own disagreements with aspects of the book and his acknowledgment that Carter overstates his case in it, Bronner finds that others have criticized the book "unfairly": "Their biggest complaint against the book — a legitimate one — is the word "apartheid in the title, with its false echo of the racist policies of the old South Africa. But overstatement hardly adds up to anti-Semitism." In contrast, Bronner's own concern is with what he calls "another subtler issue . . . [which] has to do with Carter’s religious focus," which Bronner thinks leads to Carter's "tone deafness about Israel and Jews." After relating an "episode" involving Carter and Golda Meir to illustrate differences between her and today's "leaders of the religious Zionist parties who consider the West Bank not a Palestinian area where Jews once lived, but their God-given birthright that must not be yielded," Bronner concludes: "Carter never tells us how he squares his notions of God’s punishment of secular Jews with the policies of such devout politicians."

See also: § Book_reviews, and § News_accounts_and_editorials_by_others

Representatives of organizations

Prior to the 2006 mid-term election and before the book's publication, several prominent Democrats criticized both the book and the author, a fellow Democrat. Specifically, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean asserted that he personally disagreed with Carter's "analysis of Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict" and stressed that Carter's views on the issue do not represent those of the Democratic Party. Then-House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi also criticized Carter, saying: "It is wrong to suggest that the Jewish people would support a government in Israel or anywhere else that institutionalizes ethnically based oppression, and Democrats reject that allegation vigorously. With all due respect to former President Carter, he does not speak for the Democratic Party on Israel." Other Democrats, such as New York representatives Steve Israel, Charlie Rangel and Jerrold Nadler issued similar statements. Representative John Conyers, Jr. (Michigan), who, according to The Forward, "is often criticized by members of the Jewish community for his failure to support Israel in a certain instance," added: "I cannot agree with the book's title and its implications about apartheid. . . . I recently called the former president to express my concerns about the title of the book, and to request that the title be changed." For him the title "does not serve the cause of peace[,] and the use of it . . . is offensive and wrong."

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) mounted a campaign against the book early in November of 2006, using as its "primary weapon" full-page advertisements in "major newspapers" such as The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post, claiming in their headlines in bold capital letters that 'There’s only one honest thing about President Carter’s new book. The criticism." Abraham H. Foxman, the national director of the ADL and the author of Never Again? The Threat of the New Anti-Semitism (2003), declares in his review of Carter's book published on the ADL website: "One should never judge a book by its cover, but in the case of former President Jimmy Carter’s latest work, 'Palestine Peace Not Apartheid', we should make an exception. All one really needs to know about this biased account is found in the title." As reported by James D. Besser, in The Jewish Week, Foxman has also said: "I believe he [Carter] is engaging in anti-Semitism. . . . For a man of his stature and supposed savvy to hold forth that the issues of Israel and the Middle East have not been discussed and debated because Jews and Zionists have closed off means of discussion is just anti-Semitism." According to Besser, "Foxman particularly objected to Carter’s claim in a Los Angeles Times op-ed ['Israel, Palestine, Peace and Apartheid'] that while issues of peace are hotly and freely debated in Israel, [in Carter's words] 'for the last 30 years, I have witnessed and experienced the severe restraints on any free and balanced discussion of the facts. 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.' . . . That, Foxman argued, is anti-Semitism because it reinforces the anti-Semitic canard that 'our power is so great that you can’t even talk about these issues'"; yet, "Foxman said that Carter’s success in promoting the book refutes his claims about Jewish control of the debate. . . . 'If we’re so powerful, why is he traveling across the country, appearing on every television show in the world?' he asked." James Traub comments further on contemporary contexts of this controversy relating to these "issues" of "anti-Semitism" and "bigotry" pertaining to Carter's book both specifically and generally. The ADL is featuring an article about "Anti-Semitic Reactions to Jimmy Carter's Book: White Supremacists" in its website section on Anti-Semitism: International.

Further information: § Related_opinion-editorials_and_interviews_by_Jimmy_Carter, and § Further_reading

The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA), a media watchdog group focusing primarily on correcting coverage that it considers inaccurate or unfairly skewed against Israel, provides a webpage of reviews and commentaries about the book. It also posts on its Web site what it calls a "comprehensive collection of Jimmy Carter's errors." Lee Green, director of letter writing for CAMERA, in an article dated December 1, 2006, posted on its website, criticizes the book, saying "Almost every page of Carter's book contains errors, distortions or glaring omissions." For example, Green asserts that Carter's current statements about Israel being required to withdraw to the 1949 boundaries contradict what is written in the 1978 Camp David agreements, which were signed by Carter himself. In another negative commentary posted by CAMERA, one of its senior research analysts, Gilead Ini, criticizes the former president for ignoring The Missing Peace: The Inside Story of the Fight for Middle East Peace (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2004), a memoir by former Clinton administration Middle East envoy Dennis Ross: "Not only did Carter ignore the authoritative source on what transpired at the Camp David negotiations, he apparently also didn't bother to consult news reports from the era. On Dec. 28, 2000, the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Chicago Tribune and others all reported on the Israeli cabinet's acceptance [of] Clinton's parameters as a basis for discussion."

In an "Op-Ed" published on December 4, 2006, in the Israeli daily The Jerusalem Post, David A. Harris, executive director of the American Jewish Committee (AJC), finds it "startling that a former president who prides himself on his ongoing contribution to world peace would write a crude polemic that compromises any pretense to objectivity and fairness," arguing: "Carter leaves out what any reasonable observer, even those that share his basic views of the conflict, would consider obvious facts, but does include stunning distortions"; Harris "cite[s] just two of the numerous examples" of what he calls "such mendacity." The first of these, Harris says, is that "Carter discounts well-established claims that Israel accepted and Arafat rejected a generous offer to create a Palestinian state." The second "manifest distortion," according to Harris, is that "Carter states that Israel plans to build a security fence 'along the Jordan River, which is now planned as the eastern leg of the encirclement of the Palestinians'"; whereas well-informed observers know that "Israel has modified the projected route of the security fence on numerous occasions (the current route roughly tracks the parameters that Clinton advanced to the parties in negotiations) and that there is no plan to hem the Palestinians in on the eastern border." In omitting "these well-known developments," Harris argues, Carter is "leaving readers to think that a route that was once contemplated in proposed maps but never adopted or acted upon represents current reality."

On January 11, 2007, according to the Associated Press, "Fourteen members of an advisory board to Jimmy Carter's human rights organization," the Carter Center, "resigned . . . to protest his new book. . . ." In their "letter of resignation," as reported by the AP, the "departing members of the Center's Board of Councilors told Carter . . . 'You have clearly abandoned your historic role of broker in favor of becoming an advocate for one side'. . . ." The Carter Center's Board of Councilors, from which the fourteen members resigned, consists of over 200 members.

Soon after the announcement of the resignation of the fourteen advisory board members, the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), the largest organization of rabbis in the U.S., cancelled a planned visit to Carter’s human rights center, stating that “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid” unfairly criticizes Israel: “The book contains numerous distortions of history and interpretation and apparently, outright fabrications as well. Its use of the term 'apartheid' to describe conditions in the West Bank serves only to demonize and de-legitimize Israel in the eyes of the world.” Representatives of the CCAR assert that President Carter's “attempted rehabilitation of such terrorist groups as Hezbollah and Hamas demonstrated either a clear anti-Israel bias, extreme naivete or both” and criticizes him for implying that there has been “a ‘Jewish conspiracy’ at work to discourage conversation about the Palestinians' plight.”

National Public Radio reported on December 11, 2006 that "Rabbi Marvin Hier, the founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, says his organization has received over 20,000 letters of complaint, so far, against President Carter." According to the Wiesenthal Center website, "Upon receiving word that 14 members of the Carter Center Advisory board resigned in protest over President Jimmy Carter’s book, 'Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid,' Rabbi Hier echoed ADL's Abraham Foxman: "'President Carter has only himself to blame. He wrote a book that, from its title to its contents, is blatantly one-sided and unbecoming of a former President, especially one who brokered peace between Egypt and Israel.'"

Academics

Ambassador Dennis Ross, author of The Missing Peace: The Inside Story of the Fight for Middle East Peace (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2004), who was the United States' chief Middle East envoy during the Clinton administration, is Director and Ziegler distinguished fellow of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and the first chairman of a new Jerusalem-based think tank, the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute, funded and founded by the Jewish Agency. In an interview on The Situation Room on CNN, which aired on December 8, 2006, Ross claimed that maps used in Carter's book derive from maps published previously in The Missing Peace: "I looked at the maps and the maps he uses are maps that are drawn basically from my book. There's no other way they could -- even if he says they come from another place. They came originally from my book." Ross insisted that Carter's interpretation of the maps in Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid is "just simply wrong." Whereas in his book Carter presents the maps as an "Israeli interpretation of the Clinton idea," according to Ross, who played a key role in shaping the Clinton administration's efforts to bring peace to the region, the maps in fact represented Clinton's proposals exactly. Responding to a question posed by CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer, Ross stated that Carter was also "wrong" to suggest that Israel had rejected the American proposals at Camp David: "[T]his is a matter of record. This is not a matter of interpretation." Ross concluded: "President Carter made a major contribution to peace in the Middle East. That's the reality. . . . I would like him to meet the same standard that he applied then to what he's doing now."

Alan Dershowitz, a professor of law at Harvard Law School, and author of several books on the Arab-Israeli conflict –– including The Case For Israel and The Case for Peace –– points out that Carter's book has been condemned in reviews as "moronic" by Slate, "anti-historical" by The Washington Post, and "laughable" by the San Francisco Chronicle, and claims that it is "riddled with errors and bias." Dershowitz writes that "[m]any of the reviews have been written by non-Jewish as well as Jewish critics, and not by 'representatives of Jewish organizations' as Carter has claimed." Dershowitz argues that there are factual inaccuracies in Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, including its statement that "Israel launche[d] preemptive attacks on Egypt, Syria, Iraq and then Jordan" (5), observing that, in the 1967 Six-Day War, "Jordan attacked Israel first, Israel tried desperately to persuade Jordan to remain out of the war, and Israel counterattacked after the Jordanian army surrounded Jerusalem, firing missiles into the center of the city."

Further information: Alan Dershowitz § Jimmy Carter's book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, and Alan Dershowitz § Alan Dershowitz and Jimmy Carter

In an op-ed published in the New York Sun on November 22, 2006, Dershowitz criticizes Carter for misleading his readers by waiting until the end of his book to qualify the use of the term "apartheid" in the title and earlier parts of the book: "[Carter's] use of the loaded word 'apartheid,' suggesting an analogy to the hated policies of South Africa, is especially outrageous, considering his acknowledgment buried near the end of his shallow and superficial book that what is going on in Israel today 'is unlike that in South Africa — not racism, but the acquisition of land.'"

In an open letter published in The New York Sun on December 8, 2006, as reported by the Associated Press, Kenneth W. Stein, a professor of Middle Eastern history and Israeli studies at Emory University, who was the founder of the Middle East program at the Carter Center and the Center's first executive director until 1993, presents strong criticisms of the book as follows: "President Carter's book on the Middle East, a title too inflammatory to even print, is not based on unvarnished analysis; it is replete with factual errors, copied materials not cited, superficialities, glaring omissions, and simply invented segments." In his letter sent to President Carter and others, Stein also observes: "Aside from the one-sided nature of the book, meant to provoke, there are recollections cited from meetings where I was the third person in the room, and my notes of those meetings show little similarity to points claimed in the book." He adds: "Being a former President does not give one a unique privilege to invent information or to unpack it with cuts, deftly slanted to provide a particular outlook. Having little access to Arabic and Hebrew sources, I believe, clearly handicapped his understanding and analyses of how history has unfolded over the last decade." At the end of the first week of December, Karen DeYoung reported that Stein had not yet provided a full outline of such alleged factual errors in the book. Yet, according to Zelkowitz's report, Professor Stein has "outlined his criticisms" of the book, "list[ing] two 'egregious and inexcusable errors' and several other inaccuracies." A month later, on January 11, 2007, StandWithUs, "[a]n advocacy organization that promotes education and understanding that will bring a secure future for Israel and her neighbors," posted a notice announcing that Stein would be presenting a "lecture" that night at Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, co-sponsored by that temple and StandWithUs. In that lecture, Rebecca Trounson reports in the Los Angeles Times, Stein presented details about the book's errors as he perceives them. Yet, according to The Jewish Advocate of January 9, 2007, for another planned lecture, sponsored by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and entitled "Corruptions & Truth: Telling the History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict," to take place on January 18, 2007, at Temple Emanuel, in Newton, Massachusetts, Stein has said that he was not planning to discuss Carter's book. He is "writing a lengthy review of the book for the Middle East Quarterly."

Further information: § Public and other programs pertaining to the book

Gil Troy, professor of history at McGill University and author of five books including Why I Am a Zionist (2006), a "manifesto" on Jewish identity which he first published in 2001, opines: "[I]f Carter is so innocent as to be unaware of the resonance that term has [apartheid], [then] he is not the expert on the Middle East or world affairs he purports to be." He elaborates:

Sadly, Israelis and Palestinians do not enjoy the kind of harmony the Israeli Declaration of Independence envisioned. Carter and his comrades use “Apartheid” as shorthand to condemn some of the security measures improvised recently. . . . Israel built a security fence to protect its citizens and separate Palestinian enclaves from Israeli cities. Ironically, that barrier marks Israel’s most dramatic recognition of Palestinian aspirations to independence since Israel signed the Oslo Accords in 1993. . . . Applying the Apartheid label tries to ostracize Israel by misrepresenting some of the difficult decisions Israel has felt forced to make in fighting Palestinian terror.

In a news account in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution of December 22, 2006, Ernie Suggs reports that, "in protest over Carter's book," Melvin Konner, the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Anthropology at Emory University and author of Unsettled: An Anthropology of the Jews (Viking, 2003), sent a letter to Carter Center Executive Director John Hardman declining a position on an advisory panel being offered to him. The full letter, said to be sent on December 17, 2006, was subsequently posted by Konner on the website of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East over a week later, on December 26, 2006. In this letter Konner, who defines himself as a very disappointed "decades-long supporter" of both Carter and the Carter Center, advises Hardman:

If you want The Carter Center to survive and thrive independently in the future, you must take prompt and decisive steps to separate the Center from President Carter's now irrevocably tarnished legacy. You must make it clear on your web site and in appropriately circulated press releases that President Carter does not speak for The Carter Center on the subject of the Middle East conflict or the political role of the American Jewish community. If you do not do this, then President Carter's damage to his own effectiveness as a mediator, not to mention to his reputation and legacy will extend, far more tragically in my view, to The Carter Center and all its activities.

Deanna Congileo, President Carter's spokeswoman, told Suggs that while Carter and the Carter Center "have gotten thousands of letters from people either praising 'Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid' or denouncing some aspects of it . . . [t]he Carter Center has no official position on the book itself, which President Carter said during his book tour was a personal project and not that of The Carter Center. . . ."

Carter's response to criticism of the book

Carter has responded to negative reviews in the mainstream media in an op-ed published in the Los Angeles Times (which was excerpted in the London Guardian and elsewhere):

Book reviews in the mainstream media have been written mostly by representatives of Jewish organizations who would be unlikely to visit the occupied territories, and their primary criticism is that the book is anti-Israel. Two members of Congress have been publicly critical. Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for instance, issued a statement (before the book was published) saying that "he does not speak for the Democratic Party on Israel." Some reviews posted on Amazon.com call me "anti-Semitic," and others accuse the book of "lies" and "distortions." A former Carter Center fellow has taken issue with it, and Alan Dershowitz called the book's title "indecent."

Out in the real world, however, the response has been overwhelmingly positive. I've signed books in five stores, with more than 1,000 buyers at each site. I've had one negative remark — that I should be tried for treason — and one caller on C-SPAN said that I was an anti-Semite. My most troubling experience has been the rejection of my offers to speak, for free, about the book on university campuses with high Jewish enrollment and to answer questions from students and professors. I have been most encouraged by prominent Jewish citizens and members of Congress who have thanked me privately for presenting the facts and some new ideas.

According to a December 8, 2006 report by Greg Bluestein of the Associated Press, Carter replied generally to charges by Ross, Dershowitz, Stein, and others that his book contains errors and inaccuracies by pointing out that the Carter Center staff as well as an "unnamed 'distinguished' reporter" fact-checked it.

In a videotaped clip broadcast as part of the same segment on CNN's The Situation Room in which Dennis Ross was interviewed (December 8, 2006), Carter responded to Ross's claim that maps in Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid derive from maps published in his own book The Missing Peace. Carter said that he has "never seen" Ross's book and that the maps "came from an atlas that's publicly available." According to CNN's correspondent Brian Todd, who comments on the video clip presented on The Situation Room on December 8, 2006, President Carter has identified the specific atlas as A Geopolitical Atlas of Palestine (January 2000): "We tried to contact the firm that Carter says he got those maps from, it's called the Applied Research Institute in Jerusalem[,] to see if they got those maps from Dennis Ross. We were unable to reach that company. A spokeswoman for President Carter's publisher, Simon and Schuster, says they are tracking all of these accusations, but they stand by the president's book. . . ."

On Larry King Live in late November 2006, Larry King quoted Alan Dershowitz's saying that Carter's "use of the loaded word 'apartheid'[,] suggesting an analogy to the hated policies of South Africa[,] is especially outrageous" and asked the former president: "What's the analogy? Why use the word apartheid?" Carter replied:

Well, he [Dershowitz] has to go to the first word in the title, which is "Palestine," not "Israel." He should go to the second word in the title, which is "Peace." And then the last two words [are] "Not Apartheid." I never have alleged in the book or otherwise that Israel, as a nation, was guilty of apartheid. But there is a clear distinction between the policies within the nation of Israel and within the occupied territories that Israel controls[,] and the oppression of the Palestinians by Israeli forces in the occupied territories is horrendous. And it's not something that has been acknowledged or even discussed in this country. . . . (Italics added.)

With regard to the criticisms of Kenneth W. Stein, Carter has also pointed out "that Stein hadn't played a role in the Carter Center in 13 years and that his post as a fellow was an honorary title. 'When I decided to write this book, I didn't even think about involving Ken, from ancient times, to come in and help.'" Carter's biographer Douglas Brinkley has observed that Stein and Carter have a "passionate, up-and-down relationship" and that Stein has criticized some of Carter's previous statements about Israel. In response to Professor Stein's current criticism of the book, representatives of its publisher, Simon & Schuster, state: "We haven't seen these allegations, we haven't seen any specifics, and I have no way of assessing anything he [Stein] has said. . . . This is all about nothing. We stand behind the book fully, and the fact that there has been a divided reaction to it is not surprising."

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 aforementioned resignations of Stein and thirteen 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 [sic]", saying that the members of that board "'are not engaged in implementing the work of the Center.'"

Further information: § Public and other programs pertaining to the book

"A Letter to Jewish Citizens of America"

The Associated Press reports that, "[f]acing continuing controversy over his new book on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," former President Jimmy Carter (through the Carter Center) "issued a letter . . . to American Jews explaining his use of the term 'apartheid' and sympathizing with Israelis who fear terrorism." Further commentaries based on former President Carter's letter are quoted by Kelly in his article "The Middle East: Are Critics of Israel Stifled?" in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution of December 17, 2006.

Further information: § News accounts and editorials by others

"Reiterating the Keys to Peace" in the Middle East

In an op-ed published on December 20, 2006 in the Boston Globe, Carter rejects critics of his book as not actually having addressed the major points contained in it:

Not surprisingly, an examination of the book reviews and published comments reveals that these points have rarely if ever been mentioned by detractors of the book, much less denied or refuted. Instead, there has been a pattern of ad hominem statements, alleging that I am a liar, plagiarist, anti-Semite, racist, bigot, ignorant, etc. There are frequent denunciations of fabricated "straw man" accusations: that I have claimed that apartheid exists within Israel; that the system of apartheid in Palestine is based on racism; and that Jews control and manipulate the news media of America.

Carter concludes:

As recommended by the Hamilton-Baker report, renewed negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians are a prime factor in promoting peace in the region. Although my book concentrates on the Palestinian territories, I noted that the report also recommended peace talks with Syria concerning the Golan Heights. Both recommendations have been rejected by Israel's prime minister.

It is practically impossible for bitter antagonists to arrange a time, place, agenda, and procedures that are mutually acceptable, so an outside instigator/promoter is necessary. Successful peace talks were orchestrated by the United States in 1978-79 and by Norway in 1993. If the American government is reluctant to assume such a unilateral responsibility, then an alternative is the International Quartet (United States, Russia, the United Nations, and the European Union) –– still with American leadership.

An overwhelming majority of citizens of Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, and Palestine want peace, with justice for all who live in the Holy Land. It will be a shame if the world community fails to help them reach this goal.

Protests and boycotts related to the book and its reception

Further information: § Book reviews by journalists, and § Book_reviews

Pursuant to Carter's own comments about the reviews posted online at book retailer Amazon.com, Jonny Paul reports in the Jerusalem Post:

"The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) has opened a campaign to censor on-line retailer Amazon.com following the posting of a critical review of former US president Jimmy Carter's book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.

The group said the article, written by a customer [Jeffrey Goldberg, cited in "Book reviews" above)], was "hostile" to Carter's viewpoint and had been placed in the wrong section of the Web page on the book."

Public and other programs pertaining to the book

See also: § Protests and boycotts related to the book and its reception

As later criticized by ADL head Abraham Foxman, Carter has said that debate on issues concerning Israel is silenced in the U.S. media because of lobbying efforts by the pro-Israel lobby: "[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 American people from seeing the plight of Palestinians.

In early December 2006 Brandeis University 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." The school's debate request, Carter said, 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. . . . "There is no debate in America about anything that would be critical of Israel," he said. Dershowitz has criticized Carter's refusal to debate him: "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."

Further information: Alan Dershowitz § Jimmy Carter's book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, and Alan Dershowitz § Alan Dershowitz and Jimmy Carter

According to an article entitled "Brandeis Group Pursues Carter Visit: Professors Call Debate an Insult," published in the Boston Globe on December 22, 2006, however:

Patricia Johnston, a professor of classics, said she and many colleagues have 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 December 26, 2006, WCVB-TV (an ABC-TV affiliate), reports 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. . . ." David Gil, a professor of social policy, is suggesting 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 says, and he "also has decided to assign the book in his spring [2007] seminar.

On January 10, 2007, it was reported that President Carter will discuss Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid at Brandeis University but that he "will not, however, debate the book with" Dershowitz. Brandeis officials reported that "Carter will 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," which is tentatively scheduled to take place on January 23, 2007. It will be "closed to the public and limited to 'members of the university community only'"; nevertheless, Dershowitz still plans 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 January 18, 2007, Fox News and other news outlets reported that Brandeis has announced that while Dershowitz cannot attend Carter's speech, after it is over, he will have the stage for a "rebuttal." Brandeis has refused a request from Jonathan Demme to film Carter's speech for a documentary film on the former president that Demme is making.

On February 22, 2007, former President Jimmy Carter will participate in a "conversation" about Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid with former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright at the Carter Center, moderated by Conflict Resolution Program Director Matthew Hodes. The event became sold out in early January 2007.

References

Book excerpts

• "Contents": "Table of Contents" featured by Simon and Schuster (Canada).
  • Appendices [with added links to corresponding Wikipedia articles]

1. U.N. Resolution 242, 1967
2. U.N. Resolution 338, 1973
3. Camp David Accords, 1978
4. Framework for Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty, 1978
5. U.N. Resolution 465, 1980
6. Arab Peace Proposal, 2002
7. Israel's Response to the Roadmap, May 25, 2003

• Excerpt: Chapter 17, featured by publisher Simon and Schuster. Also featured as Excerpt by ABC News.
• Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. Simon and Schuster book description. (Links to Podcast.)
  • SimonSays Weekly Podcast featured book. Simon and Schuster. November 16, 2006. (No longer accessible at that URL.)

Book summary

• Summary of Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid accessible at Wikisummaries.

Book reviews

See also: § Protests and boycotts related to the book and its reception

• Amazon.com. "Editorial reviews." Features excerpts from three book reviews, rpt. from Publisher's Weekly, Booklist, and The Washington Post (full text of rev. by Goldberg). Accessed January 19, 2007. ["Number 26" in sales as of last date of access; also links to 452 "customer reviews".] (Updated.)] (Response by Carter in "Speaking Frankly.")
• Bronner, Ethan. "Jews, Arabs and Jimmy Carter". New York Times Book Rev. January 7, 2007. Accessed January 7, 2007. (Commentary by O'Connor in #News accounts and editorials by others.)
• Foxman, Abraham H.. "Judging a Book by Its Cover and Its Content: A Review of Palestine Peace Not Apartheid by Jimmy Carter (Simon & Schuster, November 2006)." Anti-Defamation League November 13, 2006. Accessed January 8, 2007.
• Goldberg, Jeffrey (2006-12-10). "What Would Jimmy Do?". Washington Post. Retrieved 2006-12-15. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help) Rpt. in Amazon.com "Editorial Reviews." (Commentary by Paul in #Protests and boycotts related to the book and its reception.)
• "Roundup of Commentary on Jimmy Carter's Book." Online posting. CAMERA. December 6, 2006. Accessed December 26, 2006.
• Shehadeh, Raja. Book rev. of Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, California Literary Review December 19, 2006. Accessed January 7, 2007.

Related opinion-editorials and interviews by Jimmy Carter

• "An Interview with Jimmy Carter." Online posting. Amazon.com January 18, 2007. Accessed January 22, 2007.
• Interview with Jimmy Carter. Rush transcript. Larry King Live. CNN November 27, 2006. Accessed December 23, 2006.
• "Israel, Palestine, Peace and Apartheid: Americans Need to Know the Facts about the Abominable Oppression of the Palestinians." London Guardian December 12, 2006. Accessed December 23, 2006. Rpt. from The Los Angeles Times of December 8, 2006.
• "Jimmy Carter Issues Letter to Jewish Community on Palestine Peace Not Apartheid, 15 December 2006: A Letter to Jewish Citizens of America." Press release. Carter Center December 15, 2006. Accessed December 24, 2006. (Reply by the Anti-Defamation League in "An Open Letter to Jimmy Carter," by Lewy and Foxman.)
• "Last Word: Jimmy Carter: Revisiting 'Apartheid'." Interview with Jimmy Carter regarding Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid published in Newsweek and featured by MSNBC.
• "Speaking Frankly about Israel and Palestine." Los Angeles Times December 8, 2006, Op-Ed. Accessed December 23, 2006. Rpt. in the London Guardian on December 12, 2006.
• "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid: Jimmy Carter in His Own Words." Interview conducted by Amy Goodman. Democracy Now! November 30, 2006. Accessed December 23, 2006. Incl. audio link to interview and "rush transcript."
• "Reiterating the Keys to Peace." Boston Globe December 20, 2006, Op-Ed. Accessed December 23, 2006.

News accounts and editorials by others

• Abel, David. "Brandeis Is Urged to Bring In Carter: Dozens Petition for Him to Speak." Boston Globe December 26, 2006. Accessed January 3, 2007.
• Associated Press. "Carter Explains Apartheid Reference in Letter to US Jews." Online posting. Examiner.com December 15, 2006. Accessed December 24, 2006. (Updates Bluestein.)
• Bluestein, Greg, for the Associated Press. "Carter Defends His Book's Criticism of Israeli Policy." Online posting. Examiner.com December 8, 2006. Accessed December 24, 2006. (Updated by Associated Press.)
• Bosman, Julie. "Carter View of Israeli 'Apartheid' Stirs Furor." New York Times December 12, 2006. Accessed January 13, 2007. (TimesSelect subscription required.)
• Garber, Stephanie. "Jimmy Carter's rant: Anti-Israel allegations are the focus of former president's book" Cleveland Jewish News 2006. Accessed January 21, 2007.
• Goodman, Brenda, and Julie Bosman. "Former Aide Parts with Carter over Book." New York Times December 7, 2006, Arts. Accessed December 23, 2006. (TimesSelect subscription required.)
• Kelly, John. "The Middle East: Are Critics of Israel Stifled?" The Atlanta Journal-Constitution December 17, 2006. Accessed December 26, 2006.
• Lewy, Glen S., and Abraham H. Foxman, "An Open Letter to Jimmy Carter," press release, online posting, Anti-Defamation League December 20, 2006. Accessed January 21, 2007. (Reply to "A Letter to Jewish Citizens of America," by Jimmy Carter.)
• Lipstadt, Deborah. "Jimmy Carter's Jewish Problem." Washington Post January 20, 2007:A23. Accessed January 20, 2007.
• Northam, Jackie. "Jimmy Carter's Book Stirs Criticism, Complaint." Day to Day. National Public Radio December 11, 2006. Accessed January 13, 2007. (NPR audio for RealPlayer and Windows Media Player).
• O'Connor, Patrick. "Blind New York Times Continues Attacks on Carter." Z Magazine (part of Z Communications) January 8, 2007. Accessed January 8, 2007. (Commentary on Bronner in #Book reviews.)
• Oren, Michael B. "A Religious Problem: Jimmy Carter's Book: An Israeli View," The Wall Street Journal, December 26, 2006, Editorial, online posting in OpinionJournal.com. Accessed January 21, 2007.

Further reading

• Abunimah, Ali. 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. 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, Melvin. Unsettled: An Anthropology of the Jews. Rpt. New York: Viking Adult, 2003. ISBN 0-670-03244-1 (10). ISBN 978-067-003244-0 (13).
• Ross, Dennis. 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. "Does Abe Foxman Have an Anti-Anti-Semite Problem?" New York Times Magazine January 14, 2007: 30-35. Accessed January 14, 2007 online; January 18, 2007 in print.
• Troy, Gil. Why I Am a Zionist: Israel, Jewish Identity and the Challenges of Today. 3rd ed. 2001; Montreal: Bronfman Jewish Education Centre, 2006. ISBN 1-552-34648-X (10). ISBN 978-155-234648-8 (13).

See also

• Allegations of Israeli apartheid
• Arab-Israeli conflict
• Carter Center
• Palestine