Says Situation in Conflict "Begs" Apartheid Comparison
BBSNews Editorial 2008-04-15 -- In a blistering editorial Tuesday the Israeli Daily Haaretz newspaper blasted the government there for "boycotting" former President Jimmy Carter during his visit this week. Carter has come under fire for using statesmanship and diplomacy to achieve peace in the region, and possibly in the short term a cease fire or even a release of Israeli soldiers currently held by Hamas and Hezbollah.
In the editorial entitled "Our debt to Jimmy Carter" they write:
"... Israelis have not liked him since he wrote the book 'Palestine: Peace not Apartheid.'Israel is not ready for such comparisons, even though the situation begs it. It is doubtful whether it is possible to complain when an outside observer, especially a former U.S. president who is well versed in international affairs, sees in the system of separate roads for Jews and Arabs, the lack of freedom of movement, Israel's control over Palestinian lands and their confiscation, and especially the continued settlement activity, which contravenes all promises Israel made and signed, a matter that cannot be accepted. The interim political situation in the territories has crystallized into a kind of apartheid that has been ongoing for 40 years. In Europe there is talk of the establishment of a binational state in order to overcome this anomaly. In the peace agreement with Egypt, 30 years ago, Israel agreed to "full autonomy" for the occupied territories, not to settle there.
These promises have been forgotten by Israel, but Carter remembers."
Such frank language is not heard in the United States. Haaretz all but completely validates the contents of Carter's book, and such a bold statement of the facts eludes most media in America. The paper said that Carter's method of achieving a lasting peace deal, "has still not proven to be any less successful than the method that calls for boycotts and air strikes."
And they write that former President Carter, the man who managed to broker a lasting peace agreement between Egypt and Israel that has lasted for thirty years "deserves the respect reserved for royalty for the rest of his life".
Presumably, Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert directed that the Israeli security establishment not coordinate with the US Secret Service detail that guards the former president. It is inconceivable the the Israeli security service Shin Bet would act on its own.
Such a grave breech of accepted protocol could have deadly consequences as pointed out in an ABC News story where they report, "Carter's published views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the publicity surrounding his planned meeting with Meshal made him a potential target for right-wing Israelis."
In any other setting it is not hard to imagine that such a snub would cause a major diplomatic incident. By not coordinating security in a way usually accorded former US presidents, Israel's official actions seem to place an increased risk on the Nobel winning peacemaker during his four day visit to Israel.
And it's not a timely move for Shin Bet who announced today an English and Arabic version of their Web site in a way to promote "openness". The Web site has a section devoted to the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was killed by Jewish law student Yigal Amir in 1995 to stop the Middle East peace process.
Fourteen, years earlier, Anwar Sadat was also assassinated for his involvement in trying to broker peace.
Israel should hastily reconsider its decision to not provide proper security for Jimmy Carter during the remainder of his stay. Considering past history, it is an imperative.