Recently, former President Jimmy Carter has been criticized by politicians and pundits for his direct communications with Palestinians and others in his long-standing commitment to bring about peace in the Middle East–specifically between Israel and Palestine.
Most Americans have a very limited view of the issues–disagreeing in fact with most Israelis about what could be done in that region to bring about stability. I would encourage anyone who hasn’t to read Jimmy Carter’s book, first published in 2006 but with an afterword in 2007 when the paperback edition came out.
I wrote this book to cover two subjects that are rarely openly talked about in America: the terrible plight of the Palestinians and the need for a balanced [emphasis mine] discussion of how Israel and her neighbors can find peace and live together with mutual respect.
It means America must be willing to continue its commitment to the security of Israel–but at the same time be willing to engage those whose policies we don’t always agree with. There is no question America is threatened by Islamic extremism and an unprecedented hostility to it in the Islamic world–linked directly in President Carter’s view to the continuing bloodshed between Israelis and Palestinians.
President Carter points out that a baby born during the first Arab-Israeli conflict will be 50 years old in 2008. That child has seen enough bloodshed. Americans need to do more than let their elected politicians stand on past rhetoric or misguided statements of the facts. In 1979 President Carter noted that people support a settlement of the questions in conflict between Israel and Palestine. “Political leaders are the obstacle to peace.” If not now, then when?
Jimmy Carter, Palestine Peace Not Apartheid (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006-2007)
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