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Jimmy Carter Attacks Israel

munaeem | 14 December, 2006 21:10

Former President Jimmy Carter is back on the talk-show circuit demonizing Israel in pursuit of "peace". Here's what he's been saying:
  • Israel is the primary obstacle to peace in the region
  • UN Resolution 242 demands that Israel return to Palestinians all land up to the 1967 borders
  • The West Bank is Palestine
  • Israel is an apartheid state
  • The PLO has never advocated the annihilation of Israel
  • Voices from Israel dominate in the U.S. media
  • Israel is responsible for the exodus of Christians from the Holy Land

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OLMERT'S ATOMIC FAUX PAS

munaeem | 14 December, 2006 19:55

Via SPIEGEL: EU Demands Answers on Israeli Nukes
Finnish Defense Minister Seppo Kääriäinen is now demanding that the Israeli leader clarify what, exactly, he was getting at.

"I think that Mr. Olmert has to provide a more detailed explanation of what this information in fact means," Kääriäinen told the German daily Berliner Zeitung.



Europeans should pay attention to Iran's nuclear program instead of pulling the leg of Mr. Olmert. Because of Iran  a race has started in the region to acquire the nuclear technology. Gulf states has recently announced to  start a joint nuclear program. They say that their program is for peaceful purpose. But we know that they have become afraid of  increasing influence of Shiite Iran and its nuclear program. Now they want to acquire this technology so it can be used as a deterrent.

Mr. Seppo know must that no Israeli official has ever threatened to destroy any nation.  While Iranian president has been repeatedly threatened to destroy Israel. This is morally unpleasant.

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Israel, Palestine, peace and apartheid

munaeem | 14 December, 2006 16:54

by Jimmy Carter

The many 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. For the past 30 years, I have witnessed and experienced the severe restraints on any free and balanced discussion of the facts. This reluctance to criticise policies of the Israeli government is due to the extraordinary lobbying efforts of the American-Israel Political Action Committee and the absence of any significant contrary voices.

It would be almost politically suicidal for members of Congress to espouse a balanced position between Israel and Palestine, to suggest that Israel comply with international law or to speak in defence of justice or human rights for Palestinians. Very few would deign to visit the Palestinian cities of Ramallah, Nablus, Hebron, Gaza City or Bethlehem and talk to the beleaguered residents.

What is even more difficult to comprehend is why the editorial pages of the major newspapers and magazines in the US exercise similar self-restraint, quite contrary to private assessments expressed forcefully by their correspondents in the Holy Land.

My new book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, is devoted to circumstances and events in Palestine and not in Israel, where democracy prevails and citizens live together and are legally guaranteed equal status. It is already possible to judge public and media reaction. Sales are brisk, and I have had interesting interviews on TV. But I have seen few news stories in major newspapers about what I have written.

Book reviews in the mainstream media have been written mostly by representatives of Jewish organisations 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. Some reviews posted on Amazon.com call me "anti-semitic," and others accuse the book of "lies" and "distortions". A former Carter Centre 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. The book describes 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. An enormous imprisonment wall is now under construction, snaking through what is left of Palestine, to encompass more and more land for Israeli settlers. In many ways, this is more oppressive than what black people lived under in South Africa during apartheid. I have made it clear that the motivation is not racism but the desire of a minority of Israelis to confiscate and colonise choice sites in Palestine, and then to forcefully suppress any objections from the displaced citizens. Obviously, I condemn acts of terrorism or violence against innocent civilians, and I present information about the casualties on both sides.

The ultimate purpose of my book is to present facts about the Middle East that are largely unknown in America, to precipitate discussion and help restart peace talks (now absent for six years) that can lead to permanent peace for Israel and its neighbours.

Another hope is that Jews and other Americans who share this goal might be motivated to express their views, even publicly, and perhaps in concert. I would be glad to help with that effort.

· Jimmy Carter was US president from 1977-81. His book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid was published last month. This is an edited version of an article that first appeared in the Los Angeles Times

carterweb@emory.nu

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Rabbis won't boycott Carter's Palestine book

munaeem | 14 December, 2006 16:46

Former President Jimmy Carter prayed with rabbis who are angered by his new book's reference to apartheid in describing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but he didn't change their minds.

Photo
Jimmy Carter
      The Board of Rabbis of Greater Phoenix said they wouldn't call for a boycott of Carter's book, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," but they also won't suggest that anyone read it.

      "I don't know if he gets the evil that we are facing," said Rabbi Bonnie Koppell of Scottsdale.
      Carter, 82, was met by a crowd of protesters as he appeared at a bookstore in suburban Tempe to autograph copies of the book.

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US intelligence chief fails fundamental quiz

munaeem | 14 December, 2006 03:48

HE is expected to have a deep understanding of terrorist groups and their threats to the US.

But the incoming chairman of a US congressional intelligence committee was struggling yesterday to explain his ignorance of al-Qa'ida and Hezbollah.

Silvestre Reyes, the Democrat chosen to head the House of Representatives committee, was asked whether members of al-Qa'ida came from the Sunni or Shia branch of Islam.

"Al-Qa'ida, they have both," he answered, adding: "Predominantly probably Shi'ite."

Read the Full Article 

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Atomic Mole Vanunu Hopes for an End to Hypocrisy

munaeem | 14 December, 2006 03:41

By Alexander Schwabe

Mordechai Vanunu spent 18 years in prison for revealing secrets about Israel's nuclear program. With Prime Minister Ehud Olmert apparently spilling the beans, he now feels vindicated, he told SPIEGEL ONLINE in an interview.

 Read the Full Article

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We'll arm Sunni insurgents in Iraq, say Saudis

munaeem | 14 December, 2006 03:26

Saudi Arabia would respond to an American withdrawal from Iraq by funding and arming Sunni insurgents to prevent them being massacred by Shia militias, the kingdom has told the White House.
    
George W Bush at the Pentagon. IraqMr Bush at the Pentagon yesterday to discuss Iraq

he blunt warning, which diplomatic sources said was delivered by King Abdullah to Vice President Dick Cheney in Riyadh just over a fortnight ago, raises the spectre of an Iraqi civil war triggering a conflict between Sunni and Shia states across the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia fears that the United States might take the side of the Shia majority in Iraq or abandon the country altogether, leaving Sunnis at the mercy of Shias intent on vengeance for decades of Sunni domination and oppression.

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