On Palestine, Israel and Apartheid  – Former US President Jimmy Carter Dies

Former US President Jimmy Carter. (Photo: U.S. National Archives, via Wikimedia Commons)

By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

Former US President Jimmy Carter, the longest-lived president successful American history, has died astatine the property of 100, the Carter Centre announced connected Monday.

While his son, Chip Carter, called him “a hero, not lone to maine but to everyone who believes successful peace, quality rights, and unselfish love,” his politics, particularly connected occupied Palestine and Israel, was not needfully loved by all.

During his tenure arsenic president, Carter facilitated the signing of the Camp David Accords betwixt Egypt and Israel successful 1978 aft 12 days of negotiations.

The statement led to the archetypal bid pact betwixt Israel and immoderate of its Arab neighbors and ended the struggle betwixt the 2 countries that had existed since the constitution of Israel connected the ruins of historical Palestine successful 1948.

Our founder, erstwhile U.S. President Jimmy Carter, passed distant this day successful Plains, Georgia. pic.twitter.com/aqYmcE9tXi

— The Carter Center (@CarterCenter) December 29, 2024

The pact included Israel agreeing to retreat from the Sinai Peninsula, which it had occupied since the Six-Day War successful 1967 arsenic good arsenic normalized relations, including diplomatic, economical and taste ties, betwixt the 2 countries.

As a result, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin were awarded the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize. Carter would beryllium awarded the aforesaid successful 2002 “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to planetary conflicts, to beforehand ideology and quality rights, and to beforehand economical and societal development.”

‘Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid’

After helium near office, having served from 1977 to 1981, Carter became much captious of Israel’s policies and successful 2006 authored ‘Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid’ successful which helium described the Israeli concern of Palestinian territories arsenic akin to apartheid successful South Africa.

The work raised the ire of salient American supporters of Israel with Deborah Lipstadt, who is the existent US administration’s peculiar envoy against antisemitism, accusing him of having a “Jewish problem,” according to The Guardian newspaper.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter faced backlash 2 decades agone aft labeling Israel's attraction of Palestinians "apartheid," a uncovering present echoed by galore quality rights groups. Carter explained his then-controversial presumption successful a 2007 interrogation with Democracy Now! pic.twitter.com/0CMdKW8kc7

— Democracy Now! (@democracynow) December 30, 2024

The insubstantial said pro-Israel lobby groups besides placed adverts successful the New York Times accusing Carter of “facilitating those who ‘pursue Israel’s annihilation.’”

In an interview with Democracy Now successful 2007, Carter defended his presumption saying  “The connection apartheid is precisely accurate…much worse than they were successful South Africa by the way.”

“This is an country that’s occupied by 2 powers,” helium explained. “They’re present wholly separated. Palestinians can’t adjacent thrust connected the aforesaid roads that Israelis person created oregon built successful Palestinian territory. “

He added: “Another explanation of apartheid is 1 broadside dominates the other, and the israelis wholly predominate the beingness of the Palestinian people.”

October 7 Statement

Carter’s instauration released a connection aft the October 7, 2023 war, calling for a ceasefire and urging Israel to “enable indispensable services to scope Gaza truthful lives tin beryllium saved.”

At the time, the decease toll successful Gaza was much than 8,000 people, including 3,000 children, according to the statement. Since then, the decease toll successful Gaza has exceeded 45,000, with implicit 108,000 injured and implicit 11,000 inactive missing.

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“Israel, similar each nations, has a close to support itself; it besides has the work of proportionality nether planetary law. Violence volition lone beget much violence,” the connection said.

“There is nary subject solution to this crisis, lone a governmental 1 that acknowledges the communal humanity of some Israelis and Palestinians, respects the quality rights of all, and creates a way for some societies to unrecorded broadside by broadside successful peace,” it added.

Chomsky connected Carter

But Carter, who served arsenic the 39th US president, volition besides beryllium remembered for his relation successful different conflicts astir the world.

The Carter medication provided immense subject enactment to Indonesia arsenic it slaughtered “maybe a 4th of the population” successful East Timor, according to renowned governmental analyst, Noam Chomsky.

although Jimmy Carter was unsocial among erstwhile US Presidents for taking a principled stance against the genocidal Israeli Apartheid regime, portion helium was successful bureau helium excessively was a warfare transgression Zionist fanatic similar the remainder of them. The media people volition erase some parts of his grounds pic.twitter.com/rOtT9Wt5nM

— ☀️👀 (@zei_squirrel) December 30, 2024

“As the Indonesian atrocities were expanding – they peaked successful 1978 – Carter’s travel of weapons to Indonesia increased,” Chomsky said successful an interview.

He explained that erstwhile the US Congress imposed “human rights restrictions” to artifact the travel of precocious weaponry to Indonesia, “Carter arranged done Mondale, the vice-president, to get Israel to nonstop US Skyhawks to Indonesia to alteration Indonesia to implicit what turned retired to beryllium adjacent genocide, sidesplitting possibly a 4th of the colonisation oregon something.”

Chomsky said successful the aforesaid interrogation that aft the signing of the Camp David Accords, “Carter raised subject and different assistance to Israel to much than 50 percent of full assistance worldwide.”

He added that Israel “used it astatine erstwhile successful precisely the mode they said they were going to do…as an accidental to onslaught their bluish neighbor, archetypal successful 1978 past successful 1982, and to summation integration of the occupied territories.”

Other World Conflicts

According to a Counterpunch report, Carter claimed that the US “had nary work to assistance Vietnam aft the warfare due to the fact that the ‘destruction was mutual’ and “continued to battle the caller socialist authorities successful Hanoi, blocking its attempts to get promised reparations from the U.S. oregon assistance from planetary agencies similar the IMF oregon World Bank.”

The study further delves into Carter’s policies connected different planetary conflicts, including Nicaragua and the Contra War, Afghanistan and the Mujahideen, and Angola’s warfare of nationalist liberation.

Carter’s medication was besides marred by economical turbulence, including precocious inflation, gasoline shortages, and the Iran hostage crisis, Al Mayadeen reported.

“The botched rescue effort that ended with the decease of 8 Americans successful 1980 was a humiliating point, contributing to his monolithic decision to Ronald Reagan,” reported the channel.

Carter, who served successful the US Navy’s submarine division, volition person a submarine named successful his honor.

(The Palestine Chronicle)