Palestine

Peace Not Apartheid

By: Jimmy Carter

Narrated by: Jimmy Carter

Length: 4 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

Following his #1 New York Times best seller Our Endangered Values, the former president, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, offers an assessment of what must be done to bring permanent peace to Israel, with dignity and justice for Palestine.

President Carter, who was able to negotiate peace between Israel and Egypt, has remained deeply involved in Middle East affairs since leaving the White House. He has stayed in touch with the major players from all sides in the conflict and has made numerous trips to the Holy Land, most recently as an observer of the Palestinian elections in 2005 and 2006.

In this book, President Carter shares his intimate knowledge of the history of the Middle East and his personal experiences with the principal actors, and he addresses sensitive political issues many American officials avoid. Pulling no punches, Carter prescribes steps that must be taken for the two states to share the Holy Land without a system of apartheid or the constant fear of terrorism.

The general parameters of a long-term, two-state agreement are well known, the president writes. There will be no substantive and permanent peace for any peoples in this troubled region as long as Israel is violating key U.N. resolutions, official American policy, and the international "road map" for peace by occupying Arab lands and oppressing the Palestinians.

Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid is a challenging, provocative, and courageous work.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.; Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2006 Jimmy Carter. All Rights Reserved (P)2006 Simon and Schuster, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Comprehensive, fair, accurate, and accessible

This book has numerous things going for it:

1. Carter is a remarkable writer, having published everything from poetry to novels to memoirs and serious non-fiction.

2. He has been a major player in bringing peace to the Middle East, perhaps the most effective ever. This means he knows the other notables personally. He knows the issues backwards and forwards. And he knows who has and who hasn't kept to their agreements. All of this has shaped his views and points of emphasis.

3. His main interest in bringing about peace was the well being of real people, not any particular side (thought he almost thoroughly ignored the Palestinians in the 70's). This means his biases tend to be against those subverting peace.

4. He is a good reader, bringing feeling and passion and a sense of reality to the audio version.

5. He presents numerous viewpoints on the oppression of Palestinians and what it means to the conflict in the Middle East. These range from Syrian to Jordanian to Egyptian, Israeli, and Palestinian viewpoints. The book is all in all a melange of viewpoints of the plight of Palestinians.

6. His firsthand accounts of life in the West Bank are vivid and illustrative. You will come away with a feel and understanding for a very confusing place.

The book has been severely criticized for bias in favor of Palestinians. The attacks border on character assassination and constitute mainly a criticism of the title. Israelis don't like being compared to an apartheid state. Having studied numerous books on the issue, I consider Carter's to be both fair and comprehensive.

The West Bank is currently broken up into numerous tiny enclaves. Communication between them is severely impeded by Israeli checkpoints. This has profoundly disrupted the economy and day to day lives.
Meanwhile Palestinians only have access to about half the land on the West Bank. And the settlement building only continues. Carter highlights what this means to ordinary people and the prospect of peace.

A Point of View from a known & credible source

Would you listen to Palestine again? Why?

This book points out specific lawful points in this conflict. For example UN resolutions without inferring bias and leaving the reader with the ability to cross reference the situation from a Judicial perspective.

What did you like best about this story?

JC provides an independent on the ground view of the conflict and proposes possible and best options to resolve the conflict in the most civil manner without discrimination based on ethnicity, religion, or political beliefs.

Any additional comments?

JC also touches although lightly on key factors such as numbers of people affected by this conflict on both sides of the fence. Many people have died, the numbers help on taking a humanistic approach to a simple yet over loaded topic. It leaves one with thirst for understanding the massive immigration of "International non native Jews" to this small geographical region. It provokes thought on how natural resources in the area must be distributed to provide for the people living in this land and leaves me to wonder if the Israelite ever think about the "Final Solution" when they were on the chopping block, and how this affects their view and association with other peoples.

Eye opener

This has made me see clearly that the situation is much more than we know, I encourage you to listen, no matter your creed or view, this book is nothing but the facts.

Eye opening

Issue is very clearly explained. The narrative is easy to follow. Great to hear a U.S. president criticize US policies so plainly.

Excellent and unbiased perspective

This is an excellent book with a great perspective from a man of peace. I do recommend this book to anyone who's interested in US foreign-policy and the Arab Israeli conflict specifically the Israeli Palestinian conflict. I do recommend two other books: the Arabs, which gives an excellent history of the Arabs with lots of details. I also recommend: the Israel lobby and US FOREIGN POLICY.

good historical review of the conflict

overall its a good book if you don't know the nuts and bolts of the conflict, although there seems to be a bit of a bias against the republicans, but that's obvious...

Excellent Book with true actual facts.

Would you consider the audio edition of Palestine to be better than the print version?

This is a must read, we have a responsiblity to know where our tax dollars are going and who our government is supporting. Isreal is an Aparthied state and Mr. Carter explains this perfectly in this book that is based on true documented facts.

Well-written and comprehensive

This book has provided excellent background and information about Palestine, and the ongoing conflicts with Israel. There was much that I found out I didn’t know, or that I had assumed, about the area and the key nations and people involved. I highly recommend this book, and former President Carter is an excellent narrator.

great book

must read to get better understanding of the situation in the middle east and Israel

From The Lips of a Wise Man

I'm going to miss my former President Carter and the wisdom he has shown in later years. God Bless you and Rosalind.