Waltham, Mass. – Jimmy Carter acknowledged Tuesday at a historically Jewish college that his new book on the Middle East has “caused great concern in the Jewish community,” but he noted that it has prompted discussion nonetheless.
The uproar over “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid” has been going on for several months and recently prompted 14 members of an advisory board at the former president’s international-affairs think tank, the Carter Center, to resign in protest.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner gave a brief address to Brandeis University students and faculty, and later responded to 15 questions selected in advance. He responded to criticism of his book and discussed his efforts as president for peace in the Middle East.
“With my use of ‘apartheid,’ I realize this has caused great concern in the Jewish community. The title makes it clear,” Carter said. “I can certainly see how it would provoke some harsh feelings. I chose that title knowing that it would be provocative, but in the long run, it has precipitated discussion, and there has been a lot of positive discussion.”
He said the book is about conditions in the Palestinian territories, not Israel, and he urged his audience to visit the occupied areas to see for themselves.
Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz had hoped to debate Carter but was told he would not be allowed inside. He was to speak after Carter’s appearance.
Brandeis, in the Boston suburb of Waltham, is a secular university founded by American Jewish leaders, and about half of its 5,300 students are Jewish.
The university originally invited Carter on the condition that he debate Dershowitz, a critic of the book. But Carter said he would visit the campus only without conditions. He later accepted an invitation from a committee of students and faculty to speak without taking part in a debate.
Carter’s book has been criticized by some Jewish leaders as riddled with inaccuracies and distortions. Some have complained that it appears to equate South Africa’s former apartheid system of racial segregation with Israeli treatment of the Palestinians.
Carter brokered the 1978 Camp David peace accord between Israel and Egypt and won the Peace Prize in 2002.
