Apartheid Any Way You Slice It

From the firestorm of protests that followed its publication, one would think that Jimmy Carter's book, Palestine Peace Not Apartheid, was a rabid anti-Israeli manifesto. Instead, it is a very understated, painstakingly balanced look at the situation in Palestine. Carter writes very much like he speaks; soft spoken and understated to a fault. Yet this rather short, cursory summary of the history of the conflict as seen through his eyes manages to get one point very clearly across, a point that, though self-evident to the rest of the world, seems not to have penetrated the American narrative of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict due primarily to the deep-rooted assumption that Israel is invariably the victim in this conflict. The point is that Israel has and continues to systematically dispossess Palestinians of their land under the false pretense of security.

It is perhaps Carter's ability to get this point across without sounding strident or shrill that most enrages critics like Alan Dershowitz who have, predictably, slapped him with the anti-Semitic label, among others. That smear campaign is unlikely to work as Carter is one of the most respected men in the United States.

Whatever one thinks of Carter's presidency and the merits of the Camp David accord, his sincerity, honesty and forthrightness are beyond reproach. His achievements after his presidency with his work at the Carter center, on a global scale, in monitoring elections and mediating conflicts have been outstanding.

What Carter said in this book has been said many times before. What is novel, for an American readership, is the fact someone with the stature of Jimmy Carter is now saying it.