TITLE: PEACE NOT APARTHEID

AUTHOR: Jimmy Carter

DATE PUBLISHED: 2006

DATE READ: June 2008

NOTES: An honest and decent book from an honest and decent man. Peace Not Apartheid charts the conflict from the establishment of the state of Israel up to the present time. The writing is plain and simple and the book is all the better for this. As Carter describes his own involvement in the peace process and his first hand observations of life in Israel and Palestine you can sense his growing frustration and resentment with Israel, the United States and (to a lesser extent) the PLO.

He describes the chain of events of violence, retaliations and petty officialdom – such as the deliberately obstructive attitude of Israeli officials towards Arabs trying to vote, the carving up of Arab land, the erection of the “security” wall which separates families etc.
The book is not written as a polemic – but it is hard to read without becoming angry!

It finishes with the words: “It will be a tragedy – for the Israelis, the Palestinians, and the world – if peace is rejected and a system of oppression, apartheid, and sustained violence is permitted to prevail.”