BUZZFLASH REVIEWS

We've sold Jimmy Carter's last controversial book on the Middle East, and BuzzFlash is selling this one. I recently wrote an Editor's Blog on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict "Of Israel, Gaza, Grief, and Victimhood" blaming extremists on both sides for not achieving peace.

Basically, Carter takes the same position, which puts some American Jews -- and particulary hard-line organizations like AIPAC -- on the defensive. This, in turn, brings out the prickly, self-righteous indignation of Carter at times, and things spiral downwards from there.

But Carter is the President who finally brokered peace between Israel and an Arab state, which led to peace with both Egypt and Jordan and the end to Israel facing ground wars from neighboring Arab States. So why is Carter vilified by the right wing in Israel and some American Jews who claim he is Anti-Semitic?

In Israel, there is a feisty, active debate about Israeli government policy toward the Palestinians, but until Gaza, if you criticized Israeli government military policy, AIPAC and a couple of other "old style" Israeli lobbying organizations representing the official position of the Israeli government would play the you're an "Anti-Semite/pro-terrorist" card. Or for people like me: "You're a self-hating Jew."

The reality, as we have pointed out time and time again on BuzzFlash, is that it is the minority of Palestinian extremists (terrorists) and Israeli extremists (Neo-Cons and fundamentalists) who are the two parties preventing peace. Most Israelis and Palestinians want a two-state solution (as does Carter, and as is the official position of the United States).

But Hamas, Hezbollah, Likud (particularly Netanyahu who is favored to return to power in the February Israeli elections), and the Jewish "Land of Israel" fundamentalist settlers on the West Bank are out to destroy any hope of peace. Burn this into your brain: it was not a Palestinian who assassinated Yitzhak Rabin because he was promoting peace with the Palestinians; it was an extremist right wing Israeli. And Sadat was assassinated by members of a fundamentalist Islamic terrorist cell in the Egyptian military. And Netanyahu and his Neo-Con colleagues in the U.S. are publicly committed to undercutting the Oslo accords and a two-state solution, as are Hamas and Hezbollah.

Of course, you have an ever-churning list of basically terrorist gangs who oppose Israel, but the iron fist "kill Palestinians first and ask questions later" military policy of IDF engagement only bolsters the ranks of the terrorist groups. Hamas and Hezbollah are dreadful, but do we want to play a game of who is the most evil group in the world or do we want to take steps to achieve peace?

As a Jew with relatives and friends who live in Israel, I fully support the state of Israel as a Jewish State, and I believe that the only way to secure that future and the great promise of the original ideals of the Jewish State is to create a Palestinian state and to respect Palestinians as people with families and futures and promise. Otherwise both the security of Israel and its moral standing are perhaps mortally impaired.

That is what Jimmy Carter believes too.

That he is ridiculed for holding a meeting with Hamas and Syrian officials is hypocritical. The Israeli government has been reportedly near a peace agreement with Syria for some time (despite bellicose statements from both sides), and how do you think Israel got Hamas and Hezbollah to stop suicide bombings for a couple of years now? You don't think that there were negotiations between Israel and Hamas and Hezbollah? Give us a break. And the U.S. is talking to Hamas and Hezbollah. It's called negotiating through back channels.

So, as a Jew and supporter of the State of Israel to exist as a Jewish State, I think Carter has a vision that is about 85-90% on target and can help save a war-terrorist-weary Israel from a military policy based on shell shock and Sparta like thinking. As Jews, we pride ourselves on being the people of the book, a smart people.

Well, to beat terrorism, you have to be smarter than terrorists, not come down to their level.

As for Iran, even that moron in Tehran with the name that no one can pronounce knows that Israel has a huge nuclear arsenal. If Iran tries to destroy Israel, there goes Persia, kaboom! Anyone in the Middle East -- Arab, Persian or Jew -- with half a brain knows that.

Will Iran stir up trouble? Of course. Because Bush made them the big cheese in the Middle East by neutering Iraq. But the Arabs don't like the Persians; and the Shiites don't like the Sunnis. And with a little strategic thinking and lowering the flame of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Iran is going to have to deal with other "enemies" besides Israel. Remember its horrific "Hundred Years War" with Iraq?

Carter brought the most substantive gain toward peace to Israel. He should be thanked, not scorned.

Review signed by Mark Karlin, Editor and Publisher of BuzzFlash.com.

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