Jimmy Carter

Former president Jimmy Carter, under fire from Jewish leaders for describing the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands as "apartheid" in a new book, has written an open letter to U.S. Jews to defend and clarify his use of the term. In the December 15 letter, Carter described a meeting he had with the Board of Rabbis of Greater Phoenix while on a tour to promote his book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid: "I emphasized, as I had throughout the tour, that the book was about conditions and events in the Palestinian territories and not in Israel, where a democracy exists with all the freedoms we enjoy in our country and Israeli Jews and Arabs are legally guaranteed the same rights as citizens." Carter said his use of the term apartheid was based on travels to the "Holy Land during the past 33 years." He said the Palestinian people are being "deprived of the necessities of life by economic restrictions imposed on them by Israel and the United States." The Anti-Defamation League demurred: "Apartheid, that abhorrent and racist system in South Africa, has no bearing on Israeli policies.

Not only are Israel's policies not racist, but the situation in the territories does not arise from Israeli intentions to oppress or repress Palestinians, but is a product of Palestinian rejection of Israel and the use of terror and violence against the Jewish state."

COPYRIGHT 2007 The Christian Century Foundation
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning