Carter Defends Palestine Book, Answers Critics at Brandeis

c. 2007 Religion News Service WALTHAM, Mass. _ Former President Jimmy Carter on Tuesday (Jan. 23) faced critics at predominantly Jewish Brandeis University, apologizing for failing to make clear in a new book that terrorism is never justified as a political tool. But Carter defended his book’s controversial title _ “Palestine Peace Not Apartheid” _ […]

c. 2007 Religion News Service

WALTHAM, Mass. _ Former President Jimmy Carter on Tuesday (Jan. 23) faced critics at predominantly Jewish Brandeis University, apologizing for failing to make clear in a new book that terrorism is never justified as a political tool.

But Carter defended his book’s controversial title _ “Palestine Peace Not Apartheid” _ by telling a capacity crowd of about 1,700 that he aims to be “provocative” and draw attention to the fact that “Palestinians are being terribly treated” in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.


Carter’s one-hour visit came amidst an ongoing storm of protest that erupted when his book hit store shelves in November. Prominent Jewish groups have denounced the man they regarded as a friend of Israel, and more than a dozen advisers at the Carter Center in Atlanta resigned in protest.

Carter received a standing ovation upon arrival and applause for many of statements during the event, but student questioners nevertheless grilled him. One asked whether he had meant to justify the use of terrorist tactics as a bargaining chip in a passage that says, “It is imperative that the general Arab community … make it clear that they will end the suicide bombings and other acts of terrorism when international laws and the ultimate goals of the Roadmap for Peace are accepted by Israel.”

“That sentence was written in a completely improper and stupid way,” Carter said to applause. “I apologize,” Carter said, adding that “acts of terrorism are not justified at any time or for any goal.”

In introductory remarks, Carter recast his book’s central argument, telling the crowd: “Israel will never find peace until it’s willing to withdraw from its neighbor’s land and to permit the Palestinians to exercise their basic human and political rights.”

Carter urged Brandeis students to visit the West Bank. There, he said, they’ll see firsthand how Palestinians have lost access to major roads and to much of their best land, and how the force behind some 500 checkpoints “makes the lives of Palestinians almost intolerable.”

One questioner suggested that the term “apartheid,” which is most often used to describe racially segregated South Africa, might exacerbate Middle East tensions rather than soothe them. But Carter stood by his decision to use it in the title.

“My bottom line is there have been no peace efforts for five years,” Carter said. “Palestinians are being terribly treated, and that treatment in this country is not well known. So I chose that word to be provocative.”


Carter’s indictment of Israel for building a security wall beyond its borders packs a sting in part because of his credentials. As president in 1978, he brokered the landmark Camp David Accords, which established a framework for peace between Israel and Egypt. In 2002, he received a Nobel Peace Prize “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts.”

Students said they turned out to hear arguments from a man who had long presented himself as an ally.

“He had always been pro-Israel and defending Israel, so I was surprised” by the book, said Lauren Papiernik, a freshman from Miami.

Carter confided surprise of his own as he recalled reaction he’s received to the book.

“I’ve been hurt, and so has my family, by some of the reaction,” Carter said. “This is the first time I’ve been called a liar, a bigot, an anti-Semite, a coward and a plagiarist.” Carter also rebutted suggestions that Saudi donations to the Carter Center have swayed his views: “I’ve received no benefit at all from these sources, and I never will.”

After the talk, graduate student Adam Kancher of New Orleans shared mixed reactions.

“When you use words like `apartheid,’ just like `holocaust,’ you bring up historical references and it becomes a loaded word,” Kancher said. “I don’t think he addressed it well enough, (but) he didn’t have to come (to Brandeis), and he came, and for that I give him credit.”


Speaking at the same podium 40 minutes after Carter, Harvard Law School Professor Alan Dershowitz took the former president to task for trafficking in “simplicities” rather than “complexities.” He said Palestinians have had numerous chances since 1938 to establish a state but “never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity.”

And, he suggested, Carter has _ despite an honorable track record _ now taken sides.

“President Carter has become an advocate for a maximalist Palestinian view, rather than a broker for peace,” Dershowitz said.

KRE/LF END MacDONALD

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