is critical of of Israel's treatment of the palestinians, it's not surprising that he's getting a lot of flack over it. He's been accused of intolerance and antisemitism; which is ironic, since he's decrying what is a system of apartheid.What he was hoping for, apparently, was a serious discussion of Israel and the occupied territories. What he got was basically ad hominem attacks. In an op-ed in the L.A. Times, Carter writes:
[via Editor & Publisher] 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.
I'm not sure I'd loose a lot of sleep over Amazon.com reviews -- the fact that he's Jimmy Carter guarantees bad reviews from partisans who've probably never even read the book.
It's in what Carter calls 'the real world' where the discussion needs to take place anyway. Talking heads and columnists have some influence in our democracy, but the ultimate power lies with voters.
It's hard to believe that Carter wrote his book for the pundit class and the most rabid Israel apologists. He wrote it for us. Remember, the pressure to end South African apartheid didn't come from the Reagan administration (who were fine with it and called Nelson Mandela's African National Congress a terrorist organization) or the news media, but from citizen activists from around the globe.
We won't have any peace in Israel -- and, by extension, the broader middle east -- if we're committed to the pretense that everything's fine and that both sides don't have legitimate grievances. A one-sided negotiation isn't a negotiation, it's an ultimatum.
And that approach has failed for decades.
Tags: news | politics | media | Jimmy Carter | Israel | palestine | diplomacy | Middle east | Palestine Peace Not Apartheid
