It is the book of the late former president of the United States, Jimmy Carter, which talks about the non-existent peace and segregation that exists in the Middle East.
The death of Jimmy Carter, the former US president who served from 1977 to 1981, was recently announced. After his death, he revisited the controversy that had been caused by his book Palestine: Peace not Apartheid, published in 2006, in which he told the story of the Middle East and his personal experiences, addressing sensitive political issues that many criticized.
Jimmy Carter, was one of the few US presidents who spoke honestly about the situation between Israel and Palestine. But that led to him being accused, criticized and called an anti-Semite.
In his 288-page book, he was praised by some but hated by others; for this reason, we bring what Jimmy Carter wanted to highlight in his writing, and expressed in an interview in 2007 by the American journalist and presenter Amy Goodman.
At the time, the former president briefly gave an explanation of the word used in the title of the book, which was Apartheid. Jimmy Carter, he said that he used it as a reference to say: A territory occupied by two powers. Now they are completely separated, the Palestinians can not even circulate on the same roads that the Israelis have created, built in Palestinian territory. Israelis never see a Palestinian except if they are Israeli soldiers. Palestinians never see an Israeli, except from a distance, or if they are Israeli soldiers. So within the Palestinian territory, they are totally separated, much worse than in South Africa, by the way».
On the other hand, another definition he gave about this word is when he alludes to one side dominating the other, that is, from the Middle East panorama it is the Israelis who completely dominate the life of the Palestinian people.
During the interview, Jimmy Carter was asked why the Americans did not know what he had seen about the situation in Palestine at that time, to which he replied: “The Americans did not show an interest in wanting to know and many Israelis refused to know what was going on inside Palestine».
As the former president pointed out at the time, and as it still is today, many people continue to refuse to see the terrible human rights persecution in Palestine; Adding to this the powerful political forces that are in the United States and that prevent any objective analysis of the problem in the Holy Land.
At the time, Carter pointed out that no member of Congress could raise his voice and call for Israel to withdraw to its legal borders, or to publicize the plight of the Palestinians, even calling publicly and repeatedly for peace talks and good faith.
Although today there are countries, officials and even people in the entertainment field who have raised their voice for a ceasefire by Israel, they have not had any response and the situation is still worse.
The U.S. political forces that Jimmy Carter spoke of
In his book Jimmy Carter, he exposed something that opposes the negotiation route in which Palestine is like free and autonomous Israel. So, former President Carter mentions in the interview to the US-Israeli group called the United States-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), is a lobby whose aim is to maintain American support for the Jewish state. It is the main Zionist lobby and one of the most powerful in the country, and is described as bipartisan because it sponsors Democrats and Republicans. The AIPAC was founded in 1954 by a North American Zionist in response to international criticism following the massacre of 69 Palestinians in Qibya village in Israel.
While the US has always been Israel’s main partner, behind it is AIPAC, which seeks to influence Congress and the White House to ensure policies favorable to that relationship and to Israeli objectives.
Situation of the Palestinians in his mandate
When Carter was in the mandate he said that the situation of the Palestinians was not so bad. In fact he said, The first time I went to Israel, I was a governor, and I went to the West Bank. There were only 1,500 settlers in that whole place. And a general presumption, even by the Israeli leaders I met, was that Israel would withdraw from the Palestinian territories but it was brief. And when I negotiated an agreement with the Israeli prime minister Nagem Begin, he agreed that the political forces and military forces of Israel had withdrawn from the Palestinian territory».
However, in recent years the situation has deteriorated rapidly. In his book he always pointed out that it must be observed that what is happening in the Middle East, it is impossible to look elsewhere and continue allowing crimes against humanity to be carried out in Gaza.
Israeli occupation
As is known, Israel has settlements in Palestinian territory, all of them fortified, with checkpoints in Palestine. Where the Palestinians cannot move from place to place, invading deeply into Palestinian territory and encroaching on more and more land, there lies the problem, for the Israelis want to take over and control everything.
The harsh criticism behind his book
Following the publication of his book “Palestine: Peace, not Apartheid,” former US president Jimmy Carter and Simon & Schuster were sued in a New York court, accused of having deceived the public and generating conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
The lawsuit accuses the former president of promoting “hatred”, being “biased” and “anti-Israeli” and “anti-Semitic”. After the accusations Jimmy continued to show defiance and every time he had to stand in front of a microphone he expressed his position on the Middle East, warning that if the situation continued occupation in Gaza and the West Bank would be compared to South African apartheid, For the brutality of Israel today has become sinister.
