Word - Whoa there, Jimmy

Words about Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid

For a man who promotes peace, former President Jimmy Carter’s new book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid has ignited a lot of controversy. House Democratic Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi and Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean distanced themselves from the former president before the book even debuted. Last week, Ken Stein, the first executive director of the Carter Center and director of the Emory Institute for the Study of Modern Israel, cut ties with the center because of it. But Carter doesn’t seem to be phased by the firestorm.</
“[The book] is replete with factual errors ... glaring omissions, and simply invented segments. ... Being a former President does not give one a unique privilege to invent information or to unpack it with cuts, deftly slanted to provide a particular outlook.”</
-- From a Dec. 6 e-mail from Stein that announced his resignation</
“With all due respect to former President Carter, he does not speak for the Democratic Party on Israel. ... It is wrong to suggest that the Jewish people would support a government in Israel or anywhere else that institutionalizes ethnically based oppression, and Democrats reject that allegation vigorously.”</
-- From a statement released by Pelosi before the book was even published</
“Book reviews in the mainstream media have been written mostly by representatives of Jewish organizations who would be unlikely to visit the Occupied Territories, and their primary criticism is that the book is anti-Israel. ... Out in the real world, however, the response has been overwhelmingly positive. ... I have been most encouraged by prominent Jewish citizens and members of Congress who have thanked me privately for presenting the facts and some new ideas.”</
-- From Carter’s Dec. 8 Los Angeles Times Op-Ed