Silence of the media lambs... Ex-President Carter's words falling on deaf ears...

I can see it happening... boardrooms of major newspapers and media outlets cringing... as calls from Israeli lobbyists, supporters, mercenaries start pouring in, requesting... no, rather demanding that Carter be silenced, maligned or both. The media, long beholden to Israeli interests and pressure, doesn't know how to react! [To learn why, see this]. On one side is the ex-President of their country, on the other, the pressure groups, ready to start campaigns that will affect the papers', stations', outlets' bottom-line (by getting advertisers to cancel, readers to boycott, etc.). And so far, the LOBBY is winning. I capitalize for a reason. There isn't a bigger and stronger lobby out there that can come close to touching the muscle that AIPAC and other aligned myriad of lobbies, and groups have. No one has the guts, not even the ex-President. "How dare he" says AIPAC, and it throws the media and the politicians into a frenzy to protect mother Israel's reputation. I was even surprised to see that the Israeli influence is spreading to the usually freer, and usually less-controlled media of Europe, with BBC now picking up the official, Israeli-issued lingo for state terrorism--- for instance, "targeted killings" in lieu of the correctly worded (less politically-favorable of course)- assassinations.
In any case, Carter has done what sitting politicians will not have the guts to do so, he has spoken the truth. And all he has done is to give a balanced version of the Israeli occupation, not favorable to either side. But the American people are not used to seeing fairness on this topic, and Israeli PR dogs will not let that fairness even see the light of the day. God-speed to you Carter, keep fighting the injustice, you didn't win the Nobel for nothing!

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/4403923.html
How I see Palestine and why I want to talk about it
Real debate about Mideast is nonexistent in America
By JIMMY CARTER

I signed a contract with Simon & Schuster two years ago to write a book about the Middle East, based on my personal observations as the Carter Center monitored three elections in Palestine and on my consultations with Israeli political leaders and peace activists.

We covered every Palestinian community in 1996, 2005 and 2006, when Yasser Arafat and later Mahmoud Abbas were elected president and members of parliament were chosen. The elections were almost flawless, and turnout was very high — except in East Jerusalem, where, under severe Israeli restraints, only about 2 percent of registered voters managed to cast ballots.

The many controversial issues concerning Palestine and the path to peace for Israel are intensely debated among Israelis and throughout other nations — but not in the United States. For the last 30 years, I have witnessed and experienced the severe restraints on any free and balanced discussion of the facts. This reluctance to criticize policies of the Israeli government is due to the extraordinary lobbying efforts of the American-Israel Political Action Committee and the absence of any significant contrary voices.

It would be almost politically suicidal for members of Congress to espouse a balanced position between Israel and Palestine, to suggest that Israel comply with international law or to speak in defense of justice or human rights for Palestinians. Very few would ever deign to visit the Palestinian cities of Ramallah, Nablus, Hebron, Gaza City or even Bethlehem and talk to the beleaguered residents.

What is even more difficult to comprehend is why the editorial pages of the major newspapers and magazines in the United States exercise similar self-restraint, quite contrary to private assessments expressed forcefully by their correspondents in the Holy Land.

With some degree of reluctance and some uncertainty about the reception my book would receive, I used maps, text and documents to describe the situation and to analyze the only possible path to peace: Israelis and Palestinians living side by side within their own internationally recognized boundaries.

These options are consistent with key U.N. resolutions supported by the United States and Israel, official American policy since 1967, agreements consummated by Israeli leaders and their governments in 1978 and 1993 (for which they earned Nobel Peace Prizes), the Arab League's offer to recognize Israel in 2002 and the International Quartet's "Roadmap for Peace," which has been accepted by the PLO and largely rejected by Israel.

My book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, is devoted to circumstances and events in Palestine and not in Israel, where democracy prevails and citizens live together and are legally guaranteed equal status.

Sales of the book have been brisk, and I have had interesting interviews on TV, including Larry King Live, Hardball, Meet the Press, The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer, the Charlie Rose show, C-SPAN and others. But I have seen few news stories in major newspapers about what I have written.

Book reviews in the mainstream media have been written mostly by representatives of Jewish organizations who would be unlikely to visit the occupied territories, and their primary criticism is that the book is anti-Israel. Two members of Congress have been publicly critical. Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., for instance, issued a statement (before the book was published) saying that "he does not speak for the Democratic Party on Israel." Some reviews posted on Amazon.com call me "anti-Semitic," and others accuse the book of "lies" and "distortions." A former Carter Center fellow has taken issue with it, and Alan Dershowitz called the book's title "indecent."

Out in the real world, however, the response has been overwhelmingly positive. I've signed books in five stores, with more than 1,000 buyers at each site. I've had one negative remark — that I should be tried for treason — and one caller on C-SPAN said that I was an anti-Semite. My most troubling experience has been the rejection of my offers to speak, for free, about the book on university campuses with high Jewish enrollment and to answer questions from students and professors. I have been most encouraged by prominent Jewish citizens and members of Congress who have thanked me privately for presenting the facts and some new ideas.

The book describes the abominable oppression and persecution in the occupied Palestinian territories, with a rigid system of required passes and strict segregation between Palestine's citizens and Jewish settlers in the West Bank. An enormous imprisonment wall is now under construction, snaking through what is left of Palestine, to encompass more and more land for Israeli settlers. In many ways, this is more oppressive than what blacks lived under in South Africa during apartheid. I have made it clear that the motivation is not racism but the desire of a minority of Israelis to confiscate and colonize choice sites in Palestine, and then to forcefully suppress any objections from the displaced citizens. Obviously, I condemn acts of terrorism or violence against innocent civilians, and I present information about the casualties on both sides.

The ultimate purpose of my book is to present facts about the Middle East that are largely unknown in America, to precipitate discussion and to help restart peace talks (now absent for six years) that can lead to permanent peace for Israel and its neighbors. Another hope is that Jews and other Americans who share this goal might be motivated to express their views, even publicly, and perhaps in concert. I would be glad to help with that effort.

Carter was the 39th president of the United States. His newest book, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," was published in November. This article originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.