Thursday, December 14, 2006

Jimmy Carter vs. Israeli Apartheid

At long last the New York Times (registration required) has decided to mention that former president Jimmy Carter has written a new book that is on the Times bestseller list. For some strange reason, the only mention is in the Arts section and only the book's critics are quoted.

The book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, has gotten little attention in the print media. The American media routinely ignore or excoriate critics of Israeli government policy. It is a little harder to do if the critic is a former president and prolific author. So the Times finally covers a book that deals with a critical national and foreign policy issue but only in the Arts section.

Carter has done the American people a great service by writing this book and by adamantly and unapologetically using the word apartheid. My two cents is in this weeks Black Agenda Report.