Hedges is exactly right: there is an even better case against Israel than Carter presents in his book. But Carter is restrained from using it because the Israel lobby is so potent. What Carter does say is quickly and easily proven by reality so the lobby is merely spouting lies per the Bush example. Nancy Pelosi's worst fault is kowtowing to the big money potency of the Israel lobby. Most of the world's violence problems are created by the Bush/Olmert war criminal duo.

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President Carter got it right. The Palestinians, just like the Israelis, are entitled to their own homeland, territories, and statehood. People who fight for their own homeland have always been labeled as terrorists by the occupiers/invaders, but they will win in the end and be hailed as national heroes.

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I have so much admiration for Jimmy Carter and his dogged determination to speak out on the most difficult issues of the day. Let us not forget that he brokered a peace between Israel and Egypt against tremendous odds, so it's not that he's some novice blowing smoke. No one has benefitted from the Bush Administration's neglect of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Healing it would give us a moral leg to stand on in the Middle East.

More than 25 years ago, Carter begged this nation to confront its dependence on oil, to look for alternative energy sources, and to live more simply. Then Reagan swept into office and dismissed Carter's views as needlessly pessimistic.

It is afternoon in America now, and we'd better address our difficult problems while there's still some light and some chance of success. Here's to Jimmy Carter and Chris Hedges for helping us frame the issues.

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Carter's basic premise is correct. He has shown great courage in voicing it. But ,as many have pointed out, his book is filled with factual errors. This failure to do quality scholarship unfortunately diminishes his important basic message.

Dr. Rick Lippin
Southampton, Pa

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When America finally moves from a petroleum based economy, we will no longer need Israel to watch the Middle East for us, and we will allow them to sink or swim on their own. Israel will then be forced to work with their neighbors and accept what terms they are offered by whatever group is most powerful at the time. It's kind of like the white American's future acceptance of non-white influence in our own society. The hand writing is on the wall. Read the census demographics. We whites won't run things within 50 years, just as we won't be using oil as an economical base. The longer we hold out, the harder it will be on all concerned.

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It's been said that a political gaffe is when a politician accidently speaks the truth. In American politics, only retired politicians "accidentally" tell the truth about Israel. As the author notes ironically, the errors in Carter's book his fulsome praise about Israel's democracy, e.g., Carter said there is no discrimination against Arabs in Israel. Really?

But the greater point is that Jimmy Carter has called the occupation what it is, a soul-destroying apartheid. He should be thanked. He should be commended. And for God's sake, buy his book!

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thepeoplesvoice.org posted

The Wall, Senator Clinton and Bob Marley
eileen fleming on 12/23/06

On November 15, 2005, Senator Hillary Clinton stood on the Jerusalem side of The Wall and was quoted in Ha'aretz, expressing support for The Wall because it "is against terrorists" and "not against the Palestinian people."

Senator Clinton did NOT visit the Little Town of Bethlehem, which is Occupied Territory, to see what The Wall has done to the Bethlehem economy. But I have....

.......For twelve days around Christmas 2005, I lived in the Little Town of Bethlehem, which is occupied territory. For twelve days I walked "through streets that were dead" [Bob Dylan] in the morning, noon and night and everywhere I did go, shops were closed, restaurants empty. A few locals would be around and tour buses would quickly come and go at the Church of The Nativity.

But stores remain closed and restaurants empty because tourists don't want to see, hear or know about occupied territory. The Terminal is not The Way tourists in buses and taxis go;

The Terminal is the way only Palestinians and the curious go, who want to know what's really going down in the Holy Land, which is in pieces........




.....The Israeli government and Senator Clinton both claim The Wall is all for Security. The International Court of Justice in The Hague has deemed The Wall illegal and that it must come down.

The concrete boa constrictor and electrified fence is a master plan to divide, separate, humiliate, dominate, control and deny inalienable human rights to the indigenous people of the Holy Land.......


.......At The Terminal in Bethlehem, upon the thirty foot high Wall, a hundred square foot sign from The Minister of Tourism hangs and proclaims in Orwellian doublespeak, "Peace be with you."

Photo by Meir Vanunu and rest of story at:

http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/indx.php

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Jimmy Carter may not speak for Nancy Pelosi, but he certainly speaks for me. I have not read Carter's book, but he has earned my trust. We are so fortunate to have spokespeople like Jimmy Carter, Bill Moyers, Howard Zinn and other moral giant to speak for people of conscience everywhere whose voices are being ignored.

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How can the USofA be backing loan guarantees for Israel's 30' barrier/wall while being fully cognizant of it's illegality by International Law and at the same time we're borrowing from China to help finance the Iraqi war/occupation? Also, where does Israel's lobbying money come from? What some paradoxical BS, does anything make sense?

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Jimmy Carter....A reputation of integrity....a legacy of swindle. Sums up the worst President I've had the misfortune to live under fairly well (including Bill Klintoon). To credit this man with much of anything positive would be a gross injustice. He continually demonstrates that he will support wholeheartedly any despotic regimes in existence. A friend to criminals and political lowlifes and a historical revisionist on a scale only rivaled by the Clinton's (Hill and Bill). An anti semite that only takes notice of alleged crimes of humanity when its the Jews being accused but is surprisingly silent when it comes to crimes against the Jews. Jimmy Carter would get my vote as the one POTUS with credentials certified by the Politburo of the former USSR. In other words....a card carrying Commie. The man should be deported to a country where they can appreciate his pinko views. Someplace like Venezuela. He and Hugo Chavez could take turns trashing American and Israel and throwing parties for the likes of Castro and Maqmoud Iminneedofjihad. Fortunately I don't think he plans on being here much longer since he seems concerned where he'll be buried and that is something that I think he should continue to pursue instead of plagirizing others work and undermining his country's interests.

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I guess this country has come full circle on this issue. The world stood by and 6 million Jews were murdered by thye Nazis. Now, the state of Isreal keeps the Palestinians in ghettos just as Jews were in Europe prior to and during World War II. Our allies are aware that we are our worst enemy in our one sided approach in the Isreali-Palestinian issue. Our politicians are cowards and our media stands mute.

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You can't condemn the poisonous waters of hatred and oppression that are drowning the Palestinian people and yet ignore the river of Zionism from which these waters flow.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15977.htm

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I am glad that Alternet was willing to post Chris Hedge's article, a strong criticism of Israeli policies originally published in The Nation with the title "Get Carter". Yet I wonder how Hedges would feel about the the title Alternet chose for the article, particularly "Palestinian Apartheid"?

This is the first time I've seen the phrase "Palestinian Apartheid" used. Most writers label the situation "Israeli Apartheid."

Alternet's title, "Palestinian Apartheid", might be read to suggest that Palestinians are practising racial discrimination on themselves, or perhaps against Jews. The title, and even the sub-title below it, desperately avoid using the word Israel or Israeli, thus avoiding any assertions of Israeli responsibility or agency.

A google search for "Palestinian Apartheid" turns up a total of 774 hits for this odd phrase, mostly from obscure sources. So "Palestinian Apartheid" is not 100% new. A google search for "Israeli Apartheid" turns up 262,000 hits.

Perhaps the term "Palestinian Apartheid" also reflected an effort to avoid suggesting that Israel practices discrimination within its recognized borders, another taboo topic. Yet Hedges says that Israel does in his article, "In fact, if there is a failing in Carter's stance, it is that he is too kind to the Israelis, bending over backward to assert that he is only writing about the occupied territories. Israel itself, he says, is a democracy. This would come as a surprise to the 1.3 million Israeli Arabs who live as second-class citizens in the Jewish state."

It's sad and humorous to imagine Alternet editors, showing a recognition of some of the problems created by Israeli policies, liking elements of the article, perhaps feeling it's a bit "shrill," but desperate to tone down some of Hedge's forcefulness by avoiding the term "Israeli Apartheid", much like a politician checking the poll numbers, thinking about their constituencies, and shying away from controversy.

What is disappointing is that, rather than leaving readers with the clarity of Hedge's article, Alternet's ambivalent position led to the coining of this confusing and bizarre new term in the title, "Palestinian Apartheid" which to some readers will suggest that, once again, the Palestinians are to blame.

Pat

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On illegal israeli settlements in Gaza, Carter wrote "Living among 1.3 million Palestinians...8,000 israeli settlers were controlling 40 percent of arable land and more than one-half the water resources...[with] 12,000 troops...required to defend their presence." (pg 168)

On israeli suppression of Arab voting, "It quickly became apparent that the israeli officials had voters lists that were completely different from the names of people who came to cast ballots, and by noon there had been practically no voting....at the main polling site, the only post office larger than a mobile home, there were 3,500 names on the list, with one israeli clerk checking credentials of potential voters and methodically turning them away." (pg 171)

On Gaza, Carter wrote that its "population has soared in recent years as Palestine refugees have poured in from other areas occupied by Israel. In 1948 there were 90,000 natives...there are now more than 1.4 million...more than half its people are less than fifteen years old. They are being strangled...by a seperation barrier that is penetrated only by israeli controlled checkpoints...There have been no moves by Israel to permit transportation by sea or by air. FISHERMAN ARE NOT PERMITTED TO LEAVE THE HARBOR, WORKERS ARE PREVENTED FROM GOING TO OUTSIDE JOBS, THE IMPORT OR EXPORT OF FOOD AND OTHER GOODS IS SEVERELY RESTRICTED AND OFTEN CUT OFF COMPLETELY, AND THE POLICE, TEACHERS, NURSES, AND SOCIAL WORKERS ARE DEPRIVED OF THEIR SALARIES...poverty has reached 70 percent...acute malnutrition in Gaza is already on the same scale as that seen in the poorer countries of the Southern Sahara..."(pg 176)

On the wal-mart/home depot/walgreens type death grip of the Arab economy, "...no opportunity for a Palestinian leader to participate in peace talks for the past five years, as the israelis confiscate more and more land in the West Bank and impose increasingly severe restrictions...making it an exclusive market for many israeli products even among the local Palestinian citizens..." (pg 183) [just like the Americans, they are forced to buy from psychopathic corporations that have monopolized the markets...which finances their own doom]

Key points to remember;
1-"Only 1 percent of the people are in favor of Hamas's imposing Islamic law in Palestine." (pg 185)
2-"...citizens in fifteen European nations indicated Israel was considered the top threat to world peace, ahead of North Korea, Iran, or Afghanistan." (pg 208)
3-"The United States has used its UN security council veto more than forty times to block resolutions critical of Israel. Some of these vetoes have brought internatinal discredit on the United States..."(pg 209)

Carter is polite (as usual) but the point is clear....Israel is a rogue nation, provoking Palestians into a war, financed by you, the US taxpayer...This war caused the 9/11 attacks here and is the reason we are in Iraq now bankrupting the nation and getting kids from your neighborhood in Milwaukee or Columbus or wherever, KILLED...
Last point to remember is that Jews in the US are now overwhemlingly voting Republican...unfortunately, the time has come to re-evaluate the politically correct postion of automatic sympathy for the Jews worldwide...sos

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Evil is evil regardless of who is the perp. The Zionism that modern Israel was founded upon was and is an immoral act predicated upon complete disregard for the native populations of the region. That in no way excuses the generations of violence that have followed, much of it a response to the Israeli insult.

What amazes me to this very day is that a people so completely abused, persecuted and mistreated as European Jewry could so quickly ignore the immorality of their takeover of Palestine and the subjugation and repression of it's people. One evil does not justify another, nor does it ever solve the original problem.

The Potemkin Village constructed in the minds of America by AIPAC and it's supporters will not stand over time, just as all propaganda efforts by unjust regimes. The unprovoked attack and systemic destruction of civilian infrastructure of Lebanon by Israel this summer was one big war crime and will echo through the region for decades. The Israelis are doing nothing more than sewing the seeds of their own, and the Middle East's, misery.

We need to cut Israel off, just like an intervention with an addict. With a little mental clarity they just might find a path to peace. Without it, they are dragging us ever deeper into a mess that we do no want or need.

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Jimmy Carter's Glossary

Often touted by progressives as one of our best Presidents ever, Jimmy Carter has been given a free pass for the egregious international behaviors of his administration. Though he has redeemed himself to a certain extent through his humanitarian efforts since retiring from public life, he still has a great deal of amends to make for his foreign policy initiatives while in office. The United States is an imperialist nation. Our presidents are instruments of that paradigm. But some of them have been more reckless than others.

During his term as President, Mr. Carter ordered the CIA to train death squads (benignly labeled "contras") based in Honduras to oppose the Sandinistas after they overthrew the dictator Somoza in Nicaragua. Nice... After a coup in El Salvador, Carter sent aid and weapons to the El Salvadoran military who proceeded to massacre tens of thousands of civilians. Good work Mr. Carter.

His generous foreign policy initiatives weren't limited to Central America. Carter increased the supply of arms and munitions to the Indonesian government despite their invasion of East Timor. More than 200,000 civilians were slaughtered there, nearly a third of the population. Remember the Islamic fundamentalist Mujahideen? Carter funded their military buildup in order to entice the Soviet Union to invade Afghanistan. This resulted in the complete devastation of that country which led to the rise of the Taliban, friends of Osama Bin Laden, the alleged mastermind of the attacks of 9/11...

Okay. So maybe we shouldn't attack the messenger. People grow and change over time. Perhaps Mr. Carter is ready to tell us the whole truth now. Let's consider comments he has made concerning Israel while promoting his new book.

Certainly, not enough can be said about how wonderful it is to hear a former President of the United States use the word apartheid in relation to Israel. One has to appreciate Carter for having the courage to speak the truth about the theft of Palestinian lands, the colonization of the West Bank, and other crimes being committed against the Palestinian people by Israel. Especially since this particular former president is one who opposed Palestinian statehood, refused to meet with Palestinian leaders and was a strong supporter of Menachem Begin. Mr. Begin was Prime Minister of Israel at the time, but he was formerly wanted by the British Government as a "terrorist" for his work with the Irgun, a Zionist militia responsible for countless acts of terrorism in Palestine prior to the creation of the state of Israel. After Israel became a state, Begin's label of "terrorist" curiously morphed into "freedom fighter."

Carter fans keep reminding us that he is a huge international celebrity and that we couldn't buy this kind of publicity to expose the horrors being perpetrated by Israel in the West Bank and Gaza. But before we become too enamored of Mr. Carter, we need to ask some important questions. Since when isn't apartheid racism? According to Jimmy Carter's new glossary, it isn't. In his recent piece in the Los Angeles Times, in reference to the segregation of Palestinians by Israel's apartheid wall, Carter writes "I have made it clear that the motivation is not racism but the desire of a minority of Israelis to confiscate and colonize choice sites in Palestine, and then to forcefully suppress any objections from the displaced citizens."

This statement is breathtakingly surreal. We are expected to believe that even though the segregation of Palestinians in the West Bank is based solely on their racial and ethnic origin, somehow this particular version of apartheid isn't racism. Instead, it's only the confiscation and colonization of their land and resources. Oh, and by the way, when Palestinians resist this theft, Israel's suppression of that resistance isn't racially motivated.

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Continuing to peruse Carter's glossary, one notices his definition of democracy seems to be different than any we are familiar with. He claims democracy is thriving in Israel. He says his book "...is devoted to circumstances and events in Palestine and not in Israel, where democracy prevails and citizens live together and are legally guaranteed equal status." I suspect the Bedouin people in the Negev desert in southern Israel would view this statement with some degree of skepticism.

The Negev is considered to be Israel's "land bank" for future expansion of their population. Consequently, the Bedouins who happen to live on that land need to be removed. Israel has been kind enough to set up seven Bedouin "Settlements" where these primarily rural-agrarian people are forced to live under extremely crowded urban conditions. They suffer chronic unemployment, economic despair and social dysfunction due to the disruption of their cultural underpinnings. In order to receive funding from the state, schools in these townships are required to teach Bedouin children Hebrew as well as Jewish history. No funding is provided for curriculum related to their own history and culture. But they are generously allowed to teach these subjects as after school electives.

Half the Bedouin population, about 70,000 people, live in these townships, while the other half live in dozens of what are cleverly designated "unrecognized villages." Because Israel wants the Bedouin's land in order to expand Jewish population centers, they refuse to provide municipal services such as water, electricity, sewage, and roads to these villages. By withholding basic services from tens of thousands of Israeli citizens, issuing home demolition orders and forcibly relocating Indigenous populations based solely on race, Israel has certainly put democracy in motion in the Negev. This is also another example of Carter's new definition of apartheid. Remember, it's not racism, just land and resource theft.

Then there is the housing situation in places like the central Galilee, home to about 25,000 Palestinian citizens of Israel. Jonathan Cooke, a British journalist based in Nazareth, writes about luxury Jewish communities known as "mitzpim." These "mitzpim" are surrounded by extensive areas of land zoned for construction of new residential housing. Residents of these communities are required by law to screen the applications of anyone who wishes to build there. Surprise, surprise; also by law, non-Jews are not allowed to apply to join these communities. Very clever. The Jewish residents of the "mitzpim" can claim they don't discriminate against Palestinians because no Palestinians ever apply. Why? The law prohibits them from doing so. Plausible deniability is everything.

Meanwhile, in Palestinian villages like Sakhnin, also in the central Galilee, Palestinians are denied permits to build on their own land because Israel's Planning and Building Law has rezoned the property in a way that prohibits new construction. I wonder if "by law," Israel would permit Jimmy Carter to build a home in Sakhnin. I wonder if "by law," they would allow him to submit an application to one of the "mitzpim." Maybe someone will ask him those questions at his next book signing.

Let's take a look what Carter considers "equal status." Israel's High Court recently upheld a law denying Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza who are married to Israeli citizens the right to live in the country with their spouses. This law applies only to Arab spouses. Anyone from any other ethnic group married to an Israeli citizen is entitled to residency. Israelis married to Palestinians from the West Bank or Gaza will either have to move to the Occupied Territories or live apart from their spouses...
Full article:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15977.htm

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Someone will have to break down the powerful Iraeli lobby and cut off its support or set up a rival lobby on behalf of true Israeli and Palestinian people who want to co-exist in peace and justice. We must hold those Dems who would ignore the truth on the ground and wrap themselves around the Isreali lobby accountable. We must show grassroot power in this country. I just don't understand why those people are so blindly loyal to Israel. What happens to human reasoning and a sense of justice and common sense?

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is that those in the bantustans did not hold on to the dream of killing all the white South Africans. They weren't egged on continually by the entirety of black Africa to hold on such a dream, and black Africa didn't start four or five wars against white South Africa (and lose them all). Mandela didn't tell his followers to be suicide bombers.

Gandhi didn't tell his followers to be suicide bombers.

Martin Luther King didn't tell his followers to be suicide bombers.

And in case you haven't noticed, we don't have Iroquois suicide bombers in Albany or Ojibwa suicide bombers in Minneapolis.

Get a grip, people. Why must lefties romanticize the insanity of the Palestinians?

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Logically, the idea of a Jewish supremacist state must be abandoned in favour of a democratic Palestinian state, but so much Arab blood has been spilled, so many atrocities committed, and so many political careers compromised for the sake of the zionist empire, that The Lobby is resorting to increasingly brazen acts of slander to vilify anyone who advocates political reform, even for Israel’s own good!

New York University historian Tony Judt, who is Jewish, was due to give a talk at the Polish consulate on the stifling effect of the Israel Lobby, yet the American Jewish Congress and the Anti-Defamation League forced the consulate to rescind the invitation.
This censoring of Judt was gratuitous because the substance of his talk, the previously published essay “The Israel Lobby” by American academics Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer, was already in the public domain...

A similar fate befell Baroness Jennifer Tonge, a Liberal Democrat in Great Britain’s House of Lords. Speaking at Edinburgh University, she remarked: “The pro-Israeli lobby has got its grips on the western world, its financial grips. I think they’ve probably got a grip on our party.”

Like Judt, she deemed her remarks unremarkable because they had already been made by Walt and Mearsheimer.

The intelligent thing for The Lobby to do would have been to ignore her comments, but no. An all-party group of Lords accused Tonge of “evok[ing] a classic anti-Jewish conspiracy theory” that was symptomatic of the rise of anti-Semitism in the U.K.

The knee-jerk recklessness of this charge is obvious, and served only prove Tonge’s thesis that The Lobby manipulates British politics...

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour also paid the price for speaking honestly about the cause of suffering in Palestine. On Nov. 29, 2006, she visited the Gaza Strip in the wake of Israel’s massacre of Beit Hanoun:

“The human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territory is grave and worsening, within a general climate of impunity. Overall I was struck throughout my visit by the sense of vulnerability and abandonment that was expressed to me by virtually all the civilians that I met, both in Israel and in the occupied Palestinian territories.”

It’s hard to argue with first-hand evidence, but that didn’t stop B’nai Brith Canada’s Vice President Frank Dimant from shooting his mouth off:“[This was] yet another attempt by the UN body to delegitimize the Jewish state.”

However self-destructive the Lobby’s tactics have been in these three cases, they cannot match the hysterical depravity that has greeted Jimmy Carter because of his new book Palestine—Peace not Apartheid.

The Lobby has seen to it that Carter has been marginalized and his views rubbished:

The most ignorant and incompetent of these came from David Horowitz, who writes for a right-wing website. He saw fit to libel Carter as a Jew-hater, genocide enabler and a liar. Throughout his tirade, Horowitz collectively libeled Palestinians as racists and Jew haters, but saw nothing wrong with condemning Carter for having committed a “blood libel” on Jews.
Horowitz’s screed defies analysis because it is devoid of intellect. It is so brazenly, even proudly, dishonest that destroys his own credibility. Horowitz actually said: “[It] is a preposterous lie to say that the Palestinians had their own land and that it was occupied by the Jews,” as if he thought nobody had read Moshe Dayan’s infamous remark!:
“Jewish villages were built in the place of Arab villages. You do not even know the names of these Arab villages, and I do not blame you because geography books no longer exist, not only do the books not exist, the Arab villages are not there either."

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Let me get this straight...

Israel can murder innocent people daily, stealing thier homes and land, raping children. And even bomb Lebanon, murdering thousands more.

Iran cannot have a nuclear power plant, which it negotiated with the world in good faith, even if it passed all IAEA inspections and, I noted, the CIA report flatly stated there was "no indecation" Iran has any nuclear weapons program in any way.

Right. Just getting things in perspective.

Man, I need a drink.

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Watching my son when he was a preschooler play with those numerous children from every element of society and many differing racial backgrounds as they gathered for class play or lessons.Somehow,they played without ever recognising any differences in either color, size, shape, form or economic consideration. They just played together and seldom ever entered into conficts too to greatly over just who should play with 'that particular toy,etc.,'...they just found another one and played in the same sand box.
Watching the parents however, was at times a case for chest siezure;...those looks and those uncertainties.... preset and learned, (trained by rout) conditioning to those expected responses to so many subtle overtones and views fast held by parents, teachers and government expectations re conductivity etc.
Our elected officials are those we trust will represent our views and desires while they abide in their terms of office. As a world of people who are the real governments, we're failing in our perceptions of just who will "lead us", what sand-boxes we are to support and ideologies we 'MUST' abide by.
Being 'childlike' is not that difficult,....or is it? Why can a child play so innocently and without unrelenting malice with other children,and in one sandbox all at the same time ...and have joy,..even fun seeing the best in each other. Perhaps it's just the light they see and understand in the eyes of the other, listen to their laughter and go to their aid when in pain from a fall.
The middle east is a very large sandbox. No one should be forbidden to ever play in that box,or in any part of it;.. for that matter ,in any other sandbox either. All sandboxes are grounded to good ol'mother earth, and we're all here for our personal sojourn, living on her back. I remember my mother saying 'how would you like that done to you',.. when I made someone else enter distress or difficulty. Suppose we consider if the roles changed overnight and the middle east was in North America? Could we endure the 'endless heat', enduring stress, the other nations casting lots for our raiment? It's doubtful. Lets let the 'childlike state' take us over, give credence or claim of absolute acceptance towards each other....or whats really stopping us from doing this,being
adult humans who ought to know how to get along or was Rene Dubois correct when commenting "mankind will not reach puberty for another hundred thousand years"
We make our own choices in life, and sooner or later, own up to those choices. We are also the authors of real change and through choice alter our current difficult course.
I'm up for 'choosing aright, in conscious intention,...the path of the peacemakers".

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This has nothing to do with being anti Jewish... it has to do with recognizing a grave injustice done to a people whom, like the Native Americans, it would seem are mainly guilty of having lived for centuries on land that Europeans decided they wanted for themselves... I'm told that the traditional Jewish minority of that area, the ones with darker skins than the Euros and who apparently lived in harmony with their Arab brothers and sisters, are treated with less accord than the lighter Northern immigres.

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I am continually amazed at the amount of attention that Israel's warts get in a world full of warts. It is inexcusable that Israeli Arabs are not 100 percent equal to Israeli Jews BUT can anyone name any Arab country where the average Arab citizen has as many rights and freedoms as the Israeli Arabs? Better yet can anyone name any Arab country where the resident non-Muslims have one-tenth the freedom of Israeli Arabs? I recommend we discuss this with the Egyptian Copts whose chruches are being burned or with the better than half of the Israeli Jewish population who left hundreds of years of oppression in Arab countries. There are forced abortions in China, murder of poltical oponents by the State in Russia, murders of Bahai in Iran, resurgent Taliban religious fascists in Afghanistan, mass starvation in North Korea and so on. Why is AlterNet and the Left in general largely silent about human rights abuses elsewhere? Do we have a patronizing mindset that we can't expect and demand human rights and freedom in the 3rd world?

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Growing up, I looked at the Arab-Israeli conflict through the lens of the the American civil-rights movement -- I saw the Israelis as racists and the Arabs as innocent victims justly seeking their civil and human rights. then I lived in Israel for a year, studying, with my Israeli-Arab boyfriend. I came to understand that the cultural values of the Israelis and the cultural values of the Arabs are at the heart of the clash. Arabs (yes, I'm generalizing) as a culture, specifically Palestinian Arabs, value Honor, Land, and the Patriarch. All of these are worth dying for and certainly worth killing for. Israelis (generalizing again), specifically Jews, value Life, Peace, and Children. These two cultures are at odds. Israelis have sought to make peace over and over. Yes, they have made mistakes, yes, they have participated in wars and military actions. But through it all, they held out the olive branch. The Palestinians repeatedly set the branch on fire. Those Palestinians who want peace are afraid to speak out because of the ruthless behavior of the terrorists who rule them.

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has disappeared?? Okay then, one more time for management's ears:

To hell with the Zionist STATE of Israel (and all states, for that matter)

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Why argue back and forth, with some posters here saying Palestinians are suicidal (Robert Veasey), they positively revel in humiliation, death and suffering, so they should be thankful to israelis, all spoken through mouthfuls of Christmas turkey with grease running their double chins?
Let the Israeli leaders speak on the subject.
Surely they know a thing or two about the reality denied by American media.
Here is just a small sample:
"It is the duty of Israeli leaders to explain to public opinion, clearly and courageously, a certain number of facts that are forgotten with time. The first of these is that there is no Zionism, colonialization, or Jewish State without the eviction of the Arabs and the expropriation of their lands."

-- Ariel Sharon, Israeli Foreign Minister, addressing a meeting of militants from the extreme right-wing Tsomet Party, Agence France Presse, November 15, 1998.

And more recently, the fact published fact in Haaretz 40% of the land under the control of West Bank settlements is privately owned by Palestinians.
What the Peace Now (an Israeli organization) researchers found is that state organs stole private lands from Palestinians living in the West Bank. The report found that state bodies broke the law, ignored Supreme Court decisions and behaved dishonestly, and certainly unethically. Peace Now claimed that 130 settlements were established, fully or partially, on private lands. Note: These are properties that the state recognized as private land, not private properties that were declared to be state land.
In other words, they violated their own draconian, apartheid laws in their wicked greed.
So, enjoy your turkey, Veasey, Conservasaurus, et al.
I doubt very much that you will check any of the links here, lest they spoil the flavor.

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Let's try not to duck these questions by seeing how many negative adjectives can be put in front of the word Israel. Does anyone really think the Israelis are a bigger oppressor of Muslims than the Arab governments? Does anyone really think that Israeli Arabs have it worse than religious minorities in Iran or Egypt? Does anyone really think that it's not a threat to world peace for North Korea and Iran to have nukes but a danger that Israel has them? Israel deserves to be criticized BUT why not hold Iran, Egypt, North Korea, Iran, Russia, China, the Taliban, Turkey, Kuwait, and on and on to the SAME STANDARD? Do you not think the oppressed people of EVERY country deserve our support?

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First of all, Nancy Pelosi does not speak for me, nor for the party, with her pro-Israel-can-do-no-wrong stance, when too many Americans are beginning to question the unbridled power AIPAC wields in the shaping and control of our foreign and domestic policies, which, by extension, impact globally. In the face of the countless, continuing atrocities perpetrated by the Israeli regime, with carte-blanche endorsement from our govenment, one cannot help but wonder who runs the show and for what gain. For me, the bells began to go off with the reading of the Walt/Meirsheimer paper, and culminated with the senseless, merciless bombing of Lebanon's infrastructure, and assassination of hundreds of civilians, which oddly enough is not labeled "terrorist" in our press. Where's the difference, except by degree of sophistication of technology?
Only by doing some reading on the creation of the State of Israel, do you become acutely aware that it was, for all intents and purposes, a smoke-and-mirrors feat, and that Arab rage is not just a gratuitous exercise. What 1948 war? These people were given little warning before being driven from lands they owned for centuries. In the years since, those remaining have been expropriated, deprived of due process, water rights, freedom of movement, suffered human rights abuses, etc. How does the world allow this to happen?
More importantly, how does our govenment sanction this?
Of course, the followup question: Who really runs the show?
The situation will never be resolved unless we disentangle the injustices that permeated the very creation of a state which,
without the approval of the existing inhabitants, was subdivided to make room for a religious, segregationist entity.
GOD BLESS JIMMY CARTER!

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I would agree that Carter has been the least violent of American Presidents. But I doubt very much the people of El Salvador (or in many other places around the world) would agree with the characterization of him as a champion of human rights. He murdered (his death squads that is) scores of people in that country, however there is one event in particular that stands out. It is not well know in this country, accept among the El Salvadorian community, but the facts are there for anyone who cares about the truth. I am referring to the murder of Archbishop Romero. Romero sent a pleading letter to Carter begging him to withdraw his military "aid" to the counterrevolutionary group we were supporting. Carter did not, of course, and a few days later Romero himself was murdered.

Carter’s policy was consistent with American foreign policy generally – violence has always been used to help keep subject states inline. America has always been aggressively predatory – always imperialist – it would be quite surprising, in fact, if one of our presidents didn’t have blood on his hands. I haven't even mentioned his crimes in Indonesia/East Timor or Indochina. Please look at the facts first before passing judgment negative or positive.

America is absolutely pathetic when it comes to the Palestinian issue and in this respect stands alone in its racism and “rejectionism” (Israel itself included). Carter hasn't said anything not common sense anywhere else. Read Ha'Aretz for example. It is terrible that any criticism of Israeli policy is a kind of blasphemy and in this sense I suppose Carter deserves some credit – credit for taking the risk of being branded anti-Semitic, but to regard this action as some kind of triumph or an act of heroism seems doubtful – in other countries people have RISKED THEIR LIVES to speak out -- Soviet intellectuals for example. The level of cowardice here is probably without historic precedent.

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If not for the seriousness of the subject, YELLOW'S comparison of THE LOBBY to a "kvetchy bullyboy" and it's presumably near-meaningless objectives is laughable. Please enlighten the rest of us as to how their bluff can be called - "defanged" in my parlance. Is it just the wierdest coincidence that one never hears dissenting voices in the media or from our representatives vis-a-vis US/Israeli relations, or can one dare assume that an all-encompassing muzzle has been put in place?

At last, thanks to internet blogs, real freedom of speech is finding a forum that will not be squelched.

I believe it's much too easy to dismiss or discredit Walt/Mearsheimer as archaic political thinkers, define for them what they subscribe to, define for us what a lobby is, then completely eschew the substance of their thesis. Too many readers have already concluded that there is validity to their message and will, I believe, ultimately persuade a change.

Contrary to what you suggest, lobbies are political machines exressly designed to achieve specific objectives, thereby excluding the vast majority of tax-paying citizens, in essence, the least democratic of our democratic entities.

We will continue to disagree regarding the legitimacy of the establishment of the Israeli state, and whether or not there was a Palestinian army in place to defend itself in 1948, rather than a helpless people bulldozed into anonymous refugee camps in order to realize the Zionist dream which has developed in the world's worst nightmare.

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According to "professor" Dershowitz it is O.K. to torture or kill
as long as "You belive" it is for the good of the country.
What country?
Dershowitz should know, that Solid NAZI low professors
were writig solid scientific reserch books, that because Jews are not actually belong to the human race, it is O.K.
for the good of all humanity and
especially Germany and purity of human race
to kill, torture and exterminate Jews and some other races.
So Dershowitz is in good company

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Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. It seems to be pretty much a synopsis of the situation from the perspective of Carter's own public involvement, to which there is constant reference. He describes his role as conciliator between two often intransigent entities: the modern, sophisticated,
justifiably security conscious, increasingly ruthless Israelis on the one hand and the primitive, provincial, religious, tunnel visioned Palestinians (and other Arabs) on the other. Very like the cowboys and Indians of the American frontier. Over time the Palestinians, party as a result of his own efforts, have become if not totally "good Indians," better enough Indians to deserve being cut some slack. Israelis are not so inclined, motivated less by ethnocentrism, however, than by the quest for more land.

Carter's key assumption, upon which the entire book rests, I feel, is stated on page 208: "The overriding problem is that, for more than a quarter of a century, the actions of some Israeli leaders have been in direct conflict with the official policies of the United States, the international community and their own negotiated agreements." On page 209 he adds that "condoning of illegal Israeli activities from a submissive
White House and U.S. congress..." have been contributing factors.

If one accepts the assumption that Israel has operated against U.S. policy, and that the White House has been submissive, then the facts he presents when compared with the facts he leaves out concerning how events in the Middle East have unfolded are probably not very relevant. If you reject these premises, or even consider them to be
problematic, on the other hand, then the gaps in his overview and critique might bear some scrutiny.

I'm certainly not a recognized expert on these matters, and I can't refer to a single great study documenting how manipulated and pressured Israel has been toward adherence to a policy precisely the opposite of that which Carter calls "official"; and how un-"submissive" agencies of the White House have been, including during Carter's own administration, toward insuring that Israel shall fully understand the consequences of honoring Carter's words rather than U.S. intentions; yet I am convinced that this has been the true nature of the situation.
Which hardly exonerates Israel, in my view. Israel has made bad choices. And is now in a hellofa fix. And is harming others. But change in Israel implies a good deal more than the loss of standard of living. It implies potential annihilation and utter impoverishment if Israel should be abandoned by the U.S. Which, as I perceive things, is more likely than not should Israel actually follow Carter's advice to the letter.

Should Israel do it anyhow? Yes, and there's the rub.
Carter is right. But because he wants to do good, I feel deeply in my guts. It's just the same
old manipulation. If he's serious, let him describe to the U.S.
public Israel's dilemma. And the Palestinians' as well, which is almost identical. The same great forces attempt to operate both as puppets, however where the Palestinians are concerned the United States is not the only, and possibly not the major force behind the scenes. Moreover, the alestinians are far less capable of acting autonomously than are the Israelis.

I feel as thoiugh I'm observing a cockfighter admonish his rooster for acting savagely.

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The most telling piece of this whole article is right there at the beginning with the quote from Nancy Pelosi, the uber liberal herself, saying that Carter doesn't speak for the Democratic party...Wow someone who is farther left than pelosi, man that is some scary stuff!

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The United States is only delaying the inevitable and gaining contempt and hatred throughout the world with her complete support for Israel. When the U.S. becomes unwilling (no longer relies on Middle East oil) or unable (no empire lasts forever) to support Israel, over 200 million Arabs and Muslims that surround Israel will demonstrate that, in the end, the majority always wins. If Israeli Jews think they can make peace with their neighbors at the eleventh hour and expect generations of mistreatment to be forgotten, they will find themselves refugees looking for a country to take them in, and the U.S. and American Jews will quickly wash their hands of Israel. Peace gives Palestinians the most to gain, the alternative gives Israeli Jews the most to lose.

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President Carter - the only former president that can be admired, got it right. He was doing both the Palestinians and Israelis a service by writing his book. If Israeli Jews don't want to end up like Afrikaners (Whites) in South Africa did, they should take the advice of President Carter and make peace now, otherwise thet too will be looking for somewhere to live once the Palestinian majority gains control of all of Palestine.

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What I'd really like to see is the Palestinians get together with the rest of the middle East and kick the Israeli's off their land once and for all. I know this is not likely to happen any time soon. However, as an American citizen and taxpayer, what I can demand and work towards democratically is the end of all taxpayer support of Israel, both financial and military. Cut them off totally. Let's see how long they can oppress the Palestinians without our support! We have been compliant in this travisty of human rights for far too long.

Now I know that Congress is in the pocket of groups like AIPAC, including my Congressman, new Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. For an ethic group that only comprises something like five percent of the population, the Jewish community wields greatly undue influence on our foreign policy and it's time that the rest of us regained control and said enough!

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Pat
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Abu Doofus on Dec 23, 2006 9:50 AM
I am glad that Alternet was willing to post Chris Hedge's article, a strong criticism of Israeli policies originally published in The Nation with the title "Get Carter". Yet I wonder how Hedges would feel about the the title Alternet chose for the article, particularly "Palestinian Apartheid"?

This is the first time I've seen the phrase "Palestinian Apartheid" used. Most writers label the situation "Israeli Apartheid."

That's because Apartheid is a negative for both sides.

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One of the games the news media likes to play is to equate some kind of balance in terms of Israeli aggression and the Palestinian response. The sad reality however is the truth never shown. The US supplied M1 tanks mowing down a 12 year old Palestinian boy whose only weapon is a rock. The US supplied F15 fighters napalming homes in the territories to "get a terrorist" and killing 10 little children and old ladies in the process. The IDF Gestapo coming into the territories at will to grab who they want, to be held without charges, incommunicado forever. The Israelis in air conditioned homes and malls while hundred of Palestinians live virtually on the streets in sqalor. This is what is not shown, this is the reality.

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So we have the same old Christmas refrain from Religious Leaders and Politicians the world over, a quasi call for PEACE, realizing full well it's just a little appeasement for the 'folks' during the Holidays. I can imagine it's a little reprieve for these "Visionaries" too, they can do some free lance plotting to get the edge on their adversary once the New Year starts. Also, this lull affords a grace period so each of us can open our X-mas presents in Peace and then it's back to the game plan all refreshed and with a vengeance.

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We demand that Anglo-Californians stop their racist system of apartheid.

Under California Apartheid your Chicanos are carefully stashed in the barrios away from you, and you only let them out to ride the bus and do your menial labor for below minimum wage. They live in a police state, subject to search by your jackbooted thugs at any time. Your elected officials, including your Israeli-Californian senators Feinstein and Boxer, support your inhumane prison system and the death penalty, which is abhorred by all Europeans and Northeast United Statesians as your evil system of controlling and exterminating unruly elements within the Chicano community.

Even though the United Nations has always recognized the 1848 border between Mexico and California, we demand that Anglo-Californians end their illegal state -- because we say so. You must move east of the pre-1848 border or be killed.

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Sometimes one incident is worth a thousand posts :

Use the Google Advanced Search with the exact phrase:
"woman beaten"
with both of the words "Jerusalem" and "bus".
You need to link to the original Haaretz article on this
including the nearly 500 comments.
Also a subsequent interview with her details how she was
basically (literally) stomped out by the men...including a kick
in the face. (the interview will come up on google)
The ironies and hypocrisies here are without bound.
Hmmmmm...where was the Alternet Brigade Feminista
on this? (Columnists or regular posters)
I know ....whining about sexist Wikipedia...or Prehistoric
gender oppression....or 'academics' who dress up
and play 'street walker'.

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as soon as he's back from North Korea's next launch party.

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And it makes the perfect Hannukkah gift!

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I applaud that so many took their time to comment on this post; however, I am amazed at the bias, ignorance and naiveté of some of the comments.
I have President Carter's book mentioned, among others including his book that contains his feelings and speech when he won the Nobel Peace Prize.
President Carter is a man who desires peace above greed and politics. Many today recognize that if it were not for Carter's intervention in the North Korean nuclear crisis of 1994, we may well have entered WWIII.
Too many Americans have bought into the argument that we must support Israel at all costs-especially the Christian Right Wing element of the Republican party. Many fundamental churches, Baptists and Assemblies of God among others, have a clause in their church constitution which explicitly states that a belief in supporting Israel at all costs is a must. Many of these churches require you to agree to this principal before joining. Just listen to Zola Levitt, Ron Parsley, Hal Lindsey, Jim Haggee, TBN among many others. The Bible verse they often quote for their total support of Israel comes from Genesis 12:3 " "And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all the families of the Earth be blessed".
President Carter is an Ambassador of Peace who comes from a nation that is presently engaged in an illegal, unjust and immoral war. We desire to impose our ideals upon Iraq, not because we want peace and democracy in their land [re Democracy, many Iraqis believe that allegiance to anyone or anything else besides Allah is a form of polytheism. And to them it would be like Iraq coming to Texas and telling them to throw their Bibles into the Rio Grandee], but our main purpose is to insure an adequate, uninterrupted supply of oil to America, to establish a military stronghold there and to continue to spread our philosophy among the Gulf region.
Please read what some Presidents and their advisors have said regarding our desire for oil.
Also read honest history compared to many of the Christian books on Israel, it's right to exist, [which I am in favor of but I also believe in the right of Palestinians to their own nation] and their wars. The polarity of the "facts" is dumbfounding.
I don't hate Israel and I don't hate the Palestinians but I do have little use for those who are so blind that they will uphold injustice and lies while also condemning a man of peace.
Pierrot was correct in mentioning how uninformed many Americans are. I have many friends from other nations who will agree with him....But who knows?? Maybe America is the only nation upon this Earth that knows all the truth and it is our duty to inform the rest of this ignorant planet of their ignorance.
Take care my friends and God bless President Jimmy Carter.
blaine, USAF Retired

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When will you people understand that Israel wants one thing only. The right to exist in peace. When they are not attacked from civilian areas, they will not respond. Hence there will be peace. They have been under attack almost daily since they were allowed, by the world order, in 1948.
Think about this. If Israel gave up all their weapons, what would happen? Answer: Genocide, the entire population would be murdered. If Hezzbollah and Hamas were disarmed, what would happen? A PEACEFUL EXISTENCE for all, that's what.
Take it from this Gentile.

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Talk about the pot calling the kettle black: to be called corrupt by the Swiss is to be criticized by THE experts in corruption. If you wonder where Pinochet, Marcos, the Medellin Cartel, the Argentine generals, Arafat, Franco etc. stashed their stolen money, look no farther than the secret-numberd no questions asked Swiss bank accounts. Without the Swiss bank thugs, it would be a lot harder for the criminal thug regimes of the world to keep their stolen gains. Not to mention the Swiss' disgraceful selfish performance in World War II. A fair number of Scandanavians, Dutch, French, Belgians resisted the Nazis; the Germans have repented for their crimes. The Swiss stand nearly alone hoarding the money from Nazi victims and today's dictators and drug cartels. The Swiss have NOTHING to teach any country about morality.

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I am ever grateful to President Jimmy Carter. He has at last done something which makes me proud of the office he held. God bless him. May his voice and words ring truth into the ears of those who twitch with hatred....until peace burns this horrible rage of violence to the ground. Love and respect Mr. President.

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