Henry Siegman has again and again proved a leader on the Israel/Palestine issue. His review of Jimmy Carter’s apartheid-in-Palestine book in the Nation offers breathtaking relief from the smear campaign against Carter. His piece concludes with an explanation of Carter’s enormous contribution to Israel’s security.
Accusations by Alan Dershowitz and others that Carter is indifferent to Israel’s security only prove that no good deed goes unpunished. Arguably, the single most important contribution to Israel’s security by far was the removal of Egypt–possessing the most powerful of the military forces in the Arab world–from the Arab axis that was intent on the destruction of the State of Israel in its early years. Egypt’s peace agreement with Israel permanently removed the possibility of such a combined Arab assault against the Jewish State, something for which the late Syrian president Hafez Assad could not get himself to forgive Sadat, even after he was assassinated….
Carter’s book provides an important reminder that the Camp David agreement not only created a durable peace between Egypt and Israel but served as a model for all of the major Israeli-Palestinian peace initiatives that were to follow. Oslo’s concepts of a self-governing Palestinian Authority, of a five-year process that concludes with agreements on permanent-status issues, of negotiations on such issues that begin no later than in the third year of the agreement and of an armed Palestinian police force to maintain order are all spelled out in the Camp David agreement. And the outline of what an Israeli-Palestinian settlement would have to look like if an agreement is to be reached is also adumbrated in the Camp David accords of 1978, which included Begin’s acceptance of Egypt’s insistence on the return of all Egyptian territory held by Israel. The magnitude of that accomplishment places the pettiness of the critics of President Carter and his latest book in proper perspective.
Henry Siegman is a saint.
All intelligent people, across the wide ocean, evangelical, baptist, jewish, muslim should unite to elect decent leaders – none right winger – to make the clowns, the oppressors impossible.
List for dump: Bush, Assad, Ahmedinejad, Haniyeh, Olmert, Kim Il Jong, Putin, Nasrallah, Robertson, Falwell, Lubavitch Rebbe, Satmar Tannenbaum ….
Carter should head the a Council of Decency. Bill Clinton maybe his deputy… And many Israeli, US, UK scholars can be advisors: Baruch Kimmerling, Menachem Klein, Peter Singer, the late John Rawls, the late John Eyrrick, ….
I don't consider any of your much lauded gurus to be saints, or even particularly wise, but I am often touched by Israelis, who demonstrate what Robert Graves once called "the fine awkwardness of truth". This for instance is Shulamit Aloni, from the hebrew only edition of YNet:
The US Jewish Establishment’s onslaught on former President Jimmy Carter is based on him daring to tell the truth which is known to all: through its army, the government of Israel practises a brutal form of Apartheid in the territory it occupies. Its army has turned every Palestinian village and town into a fenced-in, or blocked-in, detention camp. All this is done in order to keep an eye on the population’s movements and to make its life difficult. Israel even imposes a total curfew whenever the settlers, who have illegally usurped the Palestinians’ land, celebrate their holidays or conduct their parades.
If that were not enough, the generals commanding the region frequently issue further orders, regulations, instructions and rules (let us not forget: they are the lords of the land). By now they have requisitioned further lands for the purpose of constructing “Jewish only” roads. Wonderful roads, wide roads, well-paved roads, brightly lit at night – all that on stolen land. When a Palestinian drives on such a road, his vehicle is confiscated and he is sent on his way.
On one occasion I witnessed such an encounter between a driver and a soldier who was taking down the details before confiscating the vehicle and sending its owner away. “Why?” I asked the soldier. “It’s an order – this is a Jews-only road”, he replied. I inquired as to where was the sign indicating this fact and instructing [other] drivers not to use it. His answer was nothing short of amazing. “It is his responsibility to know it, and besides, what do you want us to do, put up a sign here and let some antisemitic reporter or journalist take a photo so he that can show the world that Apartheid exists here?”
"Jews only road" ?
Rowan, you were obviously driving on that road also – but I suppose you are not Jewish. Nor am I, and I was was driving on these Westbank roads also in Dec. 2002 with a rental car from Jerusalem. No Israeli soldier stopped me and confiscated my car. Why?
Because I came to Israel at a dangerous time when tourism had hit a bottom low. The Israelis approved of my coming there as a non-Jewish German. I guess, they figuered I was a 'Righteous German' – a little Oskar Schindler. So, the signs on these highways should be:
'For Jews and the Righteous among the Nations only'
Klaus
Frankfurt, Germany
Sorry Klaus – all three paragraphs were by Aloni and should have been italicised!
I'm tired of hearing Jimmy Carter invoked as a saint for having brokered the Camp David accords between Egypt and Israel. Sadat's willingness to make peace was the prerequisite for Carter's having been able to broker the deal. In the absence of any such willingness from the Palestinian side, Israeli concessions are bound to be one-sided and self-defeating. Idealists who counsel Israel to make the first move remind me of those diplomats who sought to outlaw war with the Kellogg-Briand Pact after World War I.
Thank you, Mr. Weiss, for publishing this viewpoint.
All started when Begin recieved a message intercepted by Israeli intelligence about a plot to assasinate Sadat. Begin said why do you give it to me send it to Sadat. Sadat then became friendly with Israel. His visit to Jerusalem, and new friendship with Israel followed. Carter takes more credit than he deserves about the peace agreement between Begin and Sadat.
Carter has demonstrated over the recent years that he is no friend of Israel, and in his recent interviews he sounds like Buchanan who always has been a bigot and an antisemite.
It is a sorry sight, Carter behaving this way in his old days. He is insensitive about the murder of Jews, forgetful about the facts and is showing signs of dementia.