23 February 2007
Former US president Jimmy Carter has defended his new book on the Middle East against strong criticism from Jewish groups. Carter said that a majority of Americans, including many Jews, supported his main proposals. Letters he received since the publication, in November 2006, of 'Palestine: Peace not Apartheid' were largely supportive and included support from many readers who described themselves as US Jews, the former president claimed. Some Jewish groups have expressed outrage at the book, arguing that its title and contents could undermine perceptions of Israel's legitimacy. Carter, 82, was addressing a forum at Atlanta's Emory University in which he detailed his involvement in the Middle East culminating in the Camp David Accords in 1978. He gave a robust defense of the book and responded to written questions.
"Israel will never find peace until it is willing to withdraw from its neighbor's land and to permit the Palestinians to exercise their basic human and political rights," he said. Repression of Palestinians and taking of Palestinian land by Israel resulted from policies pursued by a conservative minority within Israel, he said. Carter said he condemned all violence and he repeated an apology for a passage that critics said could be interpreted as supporting suicide bombings as a negotiating tactic. The passage would be removed from future editions, he said.
