Dershowitz on “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid”

At The HILL Chronicles I wrote an article prefacing Jimmy Carter’s book, “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid”. I had written, “Carter exposed his bias and anti-Semitic views with the title in and of itself. Carter places the onus for Palestinian statehood square on the shoulders of Israel and implies that Israel is committing racism similar to that practiced in South Africa.”

Alan Dershowitz, a regular commentator on issues related to Judaism, Israel, civil rights, civil liberties, the war on terror, and the First Amendment, and frequently appears in the mainstream media as a consultant on these issues. He is a self-proclaimed liberal and civil libertarian. His defense of Israeli positions has led to widely-publicized media confrontations with Noam Chomsky, former President Jimmy Carter, and others. Dershowitz counters Carter’s motives saying he is influenced by funds he has received from Palestinian Arabs, calling him little more than “a lobbyist for foreign interests“. Dershowitz has taken issue with President Carter’s points of view and has challenged him to debate the matters in public at Brandeis University. Carter had publicly declined to visit Brandeis University to discuss the book due to the request that he debate Dershowitz as a condition of the visit: “I don’t want to have a conversation even indirectly with Dershowitz,” Carter said in Friday’s [December 15, 2006] Boston Globe. “There is no need . . . to debate somebody who, in my opinion, knows nothing about the situation in Palestine.”

The school’s debate request, Carter said, is proof that many in the United States are unwilling to hear an alternative view on the nation’s most taboo foreign policy issue, Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory. . . . “There is no debate in America about anything that would be critical of Israel,” he said. President Carter said he wrote the book because he wanted to encourage more debate; then why won’t he debate?” said

Dershowitz. . . .”As Carter knows, I’ve been to Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza, many times –– certainly more times than Carter has been there –– and I’ve written three books dealing with the subject of Middle Eastern history, politics, and the peace process. The real reason Carter won’t debate me is that I would correct his factual errors. It’s not that I know too little; it’s that I know too much.Carter’s refusal to debate wouldn’t be so strange if it weren’t for the fact that he claims that he wrote the book precisely so as to start debate over the issue of the Israel-Palestine peace process. If that were really true, Carter would be thrilled to have the opportunity to debate. . . . When Jimmy Carter’s ready to speak at Brandeis, or anywhere else, I’ll be there. If he refuses to debate, I will still be there –– ready and willing to answer falsity with truth in the court of public opinion.”

In an update from Brandeis University, Jimmy Carter is scheduled to speak for 15 minutes on January 23, 2007 and it is open to MEMBERS OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY ONLY - how convenient. After the completion of President Jimmy Carter’s program Mr. Dershowitz will respond to Mr. Carter’s remarks about his book and the situation in the Middle East.

Both events will be streamed live on the Internet, making it possible to watch them via computer. On the afternoon of the 23rd, you can listen here.

The Official Jewish Defense League Blog said of Carters book, “In this one-sided, totally skewed and highly subjective piece of Arab propaganda, Mr. Carter presents a premise and thesis that reeks of vacuity, while presenting ostensibly specious arguments that obfuscate both fact and truth. According to Mr. Carter’s gospel on the Israeli-Palestinian debacle, the blame for the continued tensions between these two peoples rests squarely on the shoulders of Israel. His use of the word apartheid in the title says it all. Carter makes it abundantly clear that his accusations of racism and systematic oppression of the Palestinians is tantamount to the South African version of apartheid, which has been universally condemned.”

In conclusion one must understand that Jimmy Carter knowingly wrote this book fully aware of the controversy it would create - and did so just the same at the expense of Israel and the Jewish people.

What profits a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his soul?