From the ADL Posted: January 11, 2007 |
Fourteen members of a Carter Center advisory board have resigned in protest of the publication of Jimmy Carter's book, "Palestine Peace Not Apartheid" saying that they could "no longer in good conscience continue to serve the center" based on both on the former President's assertions in the book and his subsequent comments made in promoting it. Their letter, reproduced below, indicates that President Carter had "clearly abandoned his historic role of broker in favor of becoming an advocate for one side."
The following have announced their resignations from the Board of Councilors, effective immediately:
Steve Berman, Managing Partner, OA Development.
Barbara Babbit Kaufman, author.
Liane Levetan, former state senator and DeKalb CEO.
Leon Novak, Principal, The Trilogy Group.
Cathey Steinberg, Executive Director of the Juvenile Justice Fund.
William B. Schwartz, Jr. former U.S. Ambassador to The Bahamas.
January 11, 2007 Dear President Carter, As members of the Board of Councilors each one of us has been proud to be associated with the In its work in conflict resolution the The facts in dealing with the conflict are these: There are two national narratives contesting one piece of land. The Israelis, through deed and public comment, have consistently spoken of a desire to live in peace and make territorial compromise to achieve this status. The Palestinian side has consistently resorted to acts of terror as a national expression and elected parties endorsing the use of terror, the rejection of territorial compromise and of Your book has confused opinion with fact, subjectivity with objectivity and force for change with partisan advocacy. Furthermore the comments you have made the past few weeks insinuating that there is a monolith of Jewish power in In the past you would inject yourself into this world to moderate between the two sides in the pursuit of peace and as a result you earned our admiration and support. Now you repeatedly make false claims. You wrote that UN Security Council Resolution 242 says that "
You denied on And finally, it is a disturbing statement to write: "that it is imperative, that the general Arab community and all significant Palestinian groups make it clear that they will end the suicide bombings and other acts of terrorism when international laws and the ultimate goals of the Roadmap for Peace are accepted by Your use of the word "Apartheid," regardless of your disclaimers, has already energized white supremacist groups who thrive on asserting Jewish control of government and foreign policy, an insinuation you made in your OPED to the LA Times on December 8, 2006: "For the last 30 years, I have witnessed and experienced the severe restraints on any free and balanced discussion of the facts." According to Web site monitoring by the From there you can get to the postings of four different White Supremacist organizations that both support and make use of the contents of your book and what you have said in public.
As a result it seems that you have turned to a world of advocacy, including even malicious advocacy. We can no longer endorse your strident and uncompromising position. This is not the |
Thursday, January 11, 2007 By GIOVANNA DELL'ORTO, AP Writer
ATLANTA — Fourteen members of an advisory board to Jimmy Carter's human rights organization resigned on Thursday to protest his new book, which criticizes Israeli policy in the Palestinian territories.
The resignations from The Carter Center board are the latest backlash against the former president's book "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," which has drawn fire from Jewish groups, been attacked by fellow Democrats and led to the resignation last month of Kenneth Stein, a center fellow and a longtime Carter adviser.
"You have clearly abandoned your historic role of broker in favor of becoming an advocate for one side," the departing members of the Center's Board of Councilors told Carter in their letter of resignation.
The 200-member board is responsible for building public support for the Carter Center. It is not the organization's governing board.
The board's members "are not engaged in implementing work of the Center," Carter Center Executive Director John Hardman said Thursday in a news release.
Deanna Congileo, a spokeswoman for Carter and the center, issued Hardman's statement in response to The Associated Press' request for comment from Carter.
The book follows the Israeli-Palestinian peace process starting with Carter's 1977-1980 presidency and the peace accord he negotiated between Israel and Egypt. It doles out blame to Israel, the Palestinians, the United States and others, but it is most critical of Israeli policy.
Steve Berman, an Atlanta real estate developer among those who resigned, said members have "watched with great dismay" as Carter defended the book, especially as he implied that Americans might be afraid to discuss the conflict in fear of a powerful Jewish lobby.
Berman said the religious affiliation of the resigning members, which include some prominent Jewish leaders in the Atlanta area, didn't influence their decision.
The resignations came a day after Congileo and officials at Brandeis University said Carter will discuss the book at the Waltham, Mass., campus. The Nobel Peace Prize winner will not, however, debate the book with outspoken Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, as Brandeis originally proposed.
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