Palestine: Peace not Apartheid by Jimmy Carter

I've finally finished reading Jimmy Carter's book (left). It is definitely worth reading I would say. The book is written in an autobiography style based on Carter's experience in propagating peace in the Middle East as President of USA in late 70s to date.

As a short review of the book, it is clear that it is the Zionist Israeli government (I shall mention Zionist Israelis here as there are a few minority group of peace loving Israeli citizen and Jewish rabbis who are against the Israel's imperialism policy in Occupied Palestine) who does not want to establish peace in the Holy land, because peace means; withdrawal of Israeli armed forces in the occupied Palestinian territories and the dismantling of the illegal settlement in Arab lands in occupied Palestinian territories. If this were to happen, it would halt the Zionist goal of creating a 'Greater Israel' comprising the current state of Israel plus the West Bank, including the whole of Jerusalem (Baitulmaqdis).

The Palestinians and the US have made it clear that there should be no preconditions to achieving peace, but Israel thought otherwise. The Zionist Israel leaders have decided to impose a ridiculous sets of preconditions to the Roadmap in 2003. We've always hear calls of Western and Zionist Israeli leaders on Palestinian and the Muslim world to accept Israel's right to exist. Admittedly, though painful as it seems (77% of Palestinian lands were confiscated by Israel in 1948), most Palestinian political leaders have long agreed to recognize Israel's right to exist. This is also part of the Oslo Agreement 1993 which was signed by former Palestinian President Yassir Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (Rabin was soon assassinated by a far-right-wing Israeli radical) and witnessed by the then, US President, Bill Clinton.

But when Ariel Sharon (the butcher of Shabra and Shatila) became Prime Minister of Israel in 2001, he rejected all the points in Oslo Agreement 1993. Why? Simple. He wanted to continue the Israel policy of colonization of Palestinian territories and for this to happen, peace cannot prevail. To the Zionist, peace can only happen if all Palestinians migrate to Jordan or other neighbouring Arab nations and when Israel has completely annexed the West Bank into its territory.

The question that should be asked to the Zionist leaders and the future President of the USA (I hope it's Obama, not McCain) instead, is, do they recognize the right of the establishment of the state of Palestine? To me, that should be the main point. Ending the occupation in West Bank and Gaza should be the top criteria in solving peace in the Middle East.

While reading the book, I found out that the US policy is actually clear on the Palestinian-Israel issue, that the Israeli settlements in the occupied territories of West Bank and Gaza are "illegal and obstacles to peace", but question now is, do they have the political will to take any action? The whole world know the answer. Since the last 50 years or so, any American President candidate have never failed to give speech to the influential pro-Israel lobby, AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee). That's just shows how important it is the issue of Israel to any aspiring American president candidate.

Take the example of the first Gulf War in 1991, the moment Saddam Hussein attacked Kuwait on the basis that Kuwait is part of Iraq, immediately the US together with their allied Arab nations responded strongly to attack Iraq. If only the same treatment is given to Israel (Israel has been occupying West Bank and Gaza since winning the Six-Days-War of 1967), the world would be at peace long long time ago.

Countless of U.N. resolutions on Israel have been passed, one peace talks after another; all failed because of Israel's failure to honour any of them. Although some of the peace plan resolutions, i.e. the Camp David Accord in 1978, Oslo Agreement 1993 seemed to be bias toward Israel, but after reading 'Palestine: Peace not Apartheid', I note that the consistency of the peace resolutions are clear; two of the key points clearly state that; Israel must honour U.N. Resolution 242, 1967, which says, "Withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict" (referring to the humiliating Arab defeat in the Six Days War of 1967) and U.N. Resolution 465, 1980 - calling on Israel to dismantle existing settlements in the Arab territories since 1967, including East Jerusalem.

But as the world has witness to date, the Israel have failed to honour the agreements. And what made it worst was that they used the peace accords to their own benefit. Illegal settlements in Gaza and the West Bank continued to be built at an even faster pace until now.

The withdrawal of the illegal Israeli settlements in Gaza few years back means nothing because in reality, what the Zionist Israel government really want is to colonize the West Bank. Just take a look at the map of West Bank. It is shrinking day by day. To prove this issue, Israel, in one of the peace talks with the Palestinians have proposed a "land swap" with the Palestinians, in which the Israel government intend to give 10% of Israel land in Southern Israel, near Gaza as a swap for lands in West Bank, which the Palestinian negotiating team rejected it outright.


..Israel's illegal prison wall snakes through Palestinian villages (image source: tgnyc.org)

The illegal prison wall is another sad state of affair. According to the Zionist Israeli leaders, it is to prevent terrorist attack by the Palestinian terrorist, i.e. Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Al-Aqsa Brigade, etc. If indeed it is built to stop terrorism, why it must be built inside Palestinian territories? The wall cuts deep into the West Bank separating the Palestinians from their families and relatives. The Wall cuts off 200,000 Palestinians in Jerusalem from their relatives, property, schools and businesses. To quote Carter from his book, he says "Imprisonment wall" is more descriptive than "security fence".

Touching on the illegal Zionist prison wall, I'd like to quote an interesting comment by one Palestinian Christian priest, Claudio Ghilardi.

"For nine hundred years, we have lived here under Turkish, British, Jordanian, and Israeli governments, and no one has ever stopped people coming to pray. It is scandalous. This is not a barrier. It is a border. Why don't they speak the truth?"

He added, "The Wall is not separating Palestinians from Jews; rather, Palestinians from Palestinians."

To conclude, I'd like to quote a short and unequivocal comment by Hanan Ashrawi, a Palestinian chief spokesperson, which Carter has included his quote in the book. Responding to Israeli claims, Hanan says;

"So far, they have succeeded in holding the peace process hostage to this mentality on the one hand. And on the other hand they have provoked tremendous violence by acts of incitement like shelling, bombing, house demolition, uprooting trees, destroying crops, assasinating political leaders, placing all Palestinians under closure in a state of total immobility - a prison. And then they wonder why some Palestinians are acting violently! And then they want to have the right to exercise violence against the captive population. Then, they like to make non-violence on the part of the Palestinians a precondition for the Palestinians to qualify for talks, let alone for statehood."

Carter concluded his book by saying that the two obstacles of permanent peace in the Middle East are:

1. Some Israelis believe they have the right to confiscate and colonize Arab land and try to justify the sustained subjugation and persecution of increasingly hopeless and aggravated Palestinians; and
2. Some Palestinians react by honoring suicide bombers as martyrs to be rewarded in heaven and consider the killings of Israelis as victories.

Free Palestine. End the Occupation!

Palestinian Al-Nakba Remembered

'Palestine: 60 Years of Struggle - Al Nakba Remembered' public forum.
Sin Chew Hall, Petaling Jaya.
10 May 2008.

"No statements, resolutions needed (referring to OIC,Arab League etc). We have enough of these..
..where are the implementation of these resolutions?"
- Mr. Abdul Aziz Aboughosh, Palestinian Ambassador to Malaysia. (Abdul Aziz was previously the Assistant Secretary of OIC for 16 years)

"..If Israel were made to follow all UN resolutions, problems would be solved.." - Dr. Abdullah Al-Ahsan, JUST Vice-President.

..Galilee October 1948, Ethnically Cleansed Palestinians on their way to Lebanon. [source]

On 14th of May, while the Israelis celebrated their so called 'independence' and 60th anniversary of the creation of the state of Israel, the Palestinians and Muslims all over the world mourn over the Palestinian Nakba (The Catastrophe) - a mass exodus of Palestinians into neighbouring Arab countries in 1948. It would have been declared as ethnic cleansing should a similar event were to happen in the modern world.


..'Palestine: 60 Years of Struggle - Al Nakba Remembered' public forum, Sin Chew Hall, Sin Chew Daily, Petaling Jaya

In conjunction with Palestinian Nakba tragedy, the International Movement for a Just World (JUST) and Peace Malaysia organised a public forum, 'Palestine: 60 Years of Struggle - Al Nakba Remembered', last Saturday, 10th May, held at the Sin Chew Hall, Petaling Jaya. Three of the guest speakers were Dr. Abdullah Al-Ahsan, JUST Vice-President and History Professor at International Islamic University, Peace Malaysia Chairman, Dato' Mukhriz Mahathir, and social activist, Abdul Rahim Majid and moderated by Datin Dulcie Abraham. Special guest of the day was the Palestinian Ambassador to Malaysia, Mr. Abdul Aziz Aboughosh.

I missed out the first session by Dr. Abdullah Al-Ahsan and a Palestinian guest, Maha Alfarra was reciting poems on Palestinian struggle when I reached the hall. Abdul Rahim Majid was the next speaker. He talked about his own personal account of visiting Al-Quds in Jerusalem, meeting Palestinians refugees in Lebanon and Syria. He described the Nakba as the "genocide of the world" and the "most tragic event". Third speaker, Dato' Mukhriz Mahathir started off by explaining the creation of Israel at the hand of the Palestinians. In that period of time, 77% of Palestinian lands were confiscated and occupied by the Jews and 1 million Palestinians were evicted and became stateless. This is a clear ethnic cleansing by the Jews. Israel's first Prime Minister, a staunch Zionist, David Ben-Gurion, was quoted as saying, "The transfer of Arabs is easier than the transfer of any other [people]. There are Arabs states around..." Click here for more 'transfer' (ethnic cleansing) Zionist quotes.

Dato' Mukhriz later explained about his meeting with a Jew rabbi who is from the Jew Against Zionist movement, in which they too protest against the Israel's celebration of its 60th anniversary.

He also highlighted about the issue of poor sewage system in Palestine. On top of that, the sewage from neighbouring Israeli settlements were systematically dumped into the West Bank and Gaza. And sometimes the solid and liquid waste goes into the Palestinian water reservoir, which could cause a serious health threat to the Palestinians.

Here's an example of how a sewage system in an illegal Jewish settlement, Beitar Illit, is being managed. It is just so sickening to read all these.

"The authorities in the illegal Jewish settlement of Beitar Illit, which is built on stolen Palestinian land, regularly open their sewage tanks on to the farmlands of the Palestinian village of Wadi Fuqeen, ruining crops, contaminating the water table and posing a serious health threat to villagers.

At least twice a month, starting on Friday afternoons and continuing for a large part of the following day, the authorities in the illegal Jewish settlement of Beitar Illit, which is built on land stolen from the neighbouring Palestinian village of Wadi Fuqeen, near Bethlehem, open their sewage tanks on to the farmlands of the village. As the video shows (link below), the sewage, which runs through specially-built pipelines that open on to the slopes leading to Wadi Fuqeen, accumulates on the Palestinian farmlands, poisoning crops, contaminating the water table and posing a serious health threat to villagers." - [Redress Information & Analysis, 19 April 2008]
Video of illegal Israeli settlers releasing sewage on Palestinian farms

During Q & A session, Dr. Abdullah Al-Ahsan said that in 1948, when Swedish U.N. Peacekeeper Count Folke Bernadotte was appointed by the U.N. to bring peace to the Middle East and attempted to ammend the 'Partition Plan', he was assassinated by the Jewish terrorist group, Lehi (Lohamei Herut Israel — Fighters for the Freedom of Israel), better known as the Stern Gang, for being seen as pro-Arab. While the Israeli government condemned the terrorist attack, they did nothing to prosecute the terrorist leaders. This just goes to show that Israel doesn't recognize peacekeepers. That is why they have always refuse to allow U.N. peacekeepers being station in Palestine or in the 'Occupied Palestinian territories'.

Dr Abdullah laments the lack of action in attempting to solve the 60 year old Middle East crisis. He stated that if the Israelis were made to follow all the UN resolutions, problem would be solved. He added that when Iraq failed to adhere to the UN conventions, the consequences was - a military attack by Western coalition led by the United States, but why the same thing not being applied to Israel? The blatant double standard of the American foreign policy is just too obvious.

On the current so-called peace road map between Palestine and Israel, Abdul Rahim Majid calls it as a 'road without a map'. He added that 'good intention must be followed by tangible action'.

The last speaker of the day was the honourable Palestinian Ambassador to Malaysia, Abdul Aziz Aboughosh. Abdul Aziz was full of emotion and spoke fiercely against the injustice done by the Zionist regime toward the Palestinians and the double standard practise of Western leaders. First, he brought up the issue of the uprooting of olive trees. He claimed that over 1 million olive trees have been uprooted by the Israeli army!


.."Yasmin Khayal stands chained to olive trees in the path
of an Israeli military bulldozer at work expanding the Israeli settlement
of Yakir in violation of international law and cease-fire agreements.
Yasmin was part of a protest to stop the destruction of the orchard
belonging to the Palestinian village of Dir Istya in the occupied West
Bank. For her action, Yasmin spent time in Israeli women's prison" [source]

The uprooting of olive trees by the Israelis has had a tremendous effects on the Palestinians, not only in terms of economic, but on their identity as well. It is clear that Israel intends to wipe out the the historical presence and symbol of the Palestinian out of the Palestinian lands.

Answering a question from the floor on the conflict between Hamas and Fatah, Abdul Aziz said that differences between political leaders happens everywhere in the world and that both of them are fighting against a common enemy - Israel. He also spoke of the undemocratic coup d’état launched by the democratically elected Hamas to gain control of Gaza. He clearly stated that any issues must be solved through democratic means.

On the role of United Nations in solving the 60-year-old long Middle East crisis, Abdul Aziz said that a total of 82 U.N. resolutions on Israel have been passed at the U.N. General Assembly, hundreds of resolutions submitted by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and the Arab League, but where is the support? Where are the implementations of these resolutions?

Lastly, he reiterates that, "No statements or resolutions needed. We have enough of these.."


..New York Times best seller, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid

I just bought Jimmy Carter's new book (above). Hopefully it's a good reading. Though I don't agree with the peace treaty signed between Israel and Egypt in 1979, which President Carter played an instrumental role, I think, at least he is much smarter than the current President, George Bush. And Carter definitely understand the situation in the Middle East better than some of the previous American presidents. Bush is probably the dumbest and the most ignorant US President in history.

Related Information and Sources
1. Redress Information & Analysis, "Beitar Illit settlers release sewage on Palestinian Wadi Fuqeen village farmlands", 19 April 2008
2. 'Transfer' (Ethnic Cleansing) Zionist Quotes
3. Donald Neff, "Jewish Terrorists Assassinate U.N. Peacekeeper Count Folke Bernadotte" Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, September 1995
4. Atyaf Alwazir, "Uprooting Olive Trees in Palestine", November 2002
5. Guardian: Hamas takes control of Gaza