3, December 2006
Dear Rep. John Conyers,
I am writing to express outrage
of your remarks criticizing Jimmy Carter’s use of the word ‘apartheid’ in his
new book, “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid." It
was reported that as the incoming chair of the House Judiciary Committee, you
urged Carter to change the title of the book, which you described as
"offensive and wrong." I fear you and many other public officials
continue to buckle under the pressure of the hugely influential Jewish lobby,
AIPAC, which continues to silence critics of Israel’s polices. There is little
doubt that such pressure was used to drag our nation to its unprovoked attack
on Iraq with its attendant disastrous consequences. AIPAC and its US
supporters, applied similar pressures in
silencing critics of Israel’s attack on Lebanon using US taxpayer funded
weaponry. A cursory glance of a map of the Occupied Territories speaks volumes
of the dispossession of Palestinian land. What is even more egregious is that
our tax money has been used and continues be used to oppress the
Palestinians.
My letter to the local
press on this important issue follows:
3, December
2006 Jimmy Carter Book critical of
Israel
President Carter, a Nobel Peace
Prize winner and architect of the Camp David Accords, is to be applauded for
his moral courage exposing the apartheid policies of Israel. Carter is
intimately familiar with the long simmering Middle East conflict and his
insightful knowledge and comments demand serious attention. In his new book, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.", Carter
accuses Israel of practicing institutionalized discrimination against the
native indigenous population which in many ways exceeds the scourge of
apartheid formerly practiced by white South Africa. Carter laments the
self-imposed conspiracy of silence which permits such appalling injustice to
continue. He comments, “oppression of the
Palestinians by Israeli forces in the Occupied Territories is horrendous. And
it's not something that has been acknowledged or even discussed in this
country.” Carter argues that the intended purpose of oppressing the
Palestinians and driving them to utter despair is to encourage them to leave
their ancestral lands to provide more land for their colonial oppressors. He
writes, "Israel's continued control and
colonization of Palestinian land have been the primary obstacles to a
comprehensive peace agreement in the Holy Land." Carter reserves some of
his harshest comments on the apartheid wall and the complete strangulation of
Gaza. Carter castigates the role of the United States “which is squandering
international prestige and goodwill and intensifying global anti-American
terrorism by unofficially condoning or abetting the Israeli confiscation and
colonization of Palestinian territories." His views are vigorously echoed
by another Nobel laureate, Desmond Tutu of South Africa.
A similar letter was
sent to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and a letter of appreciation to former President
Jimmy Carter on 3 December 2006
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