Jimmy Carter: An Unnecessary War

[babylonsister]

An Unnecessary War
By Jimmy Carter
Thursday, January 8, 2009; Page A15


I know from personal involvement that the devastating invasion of Gaza by Israel could easily have been avoided.

After visiting Sderot last April and seeing the serious psychological damage caused by the rockets that had fallen in that area, my wife, Rosalynn, and I declared their launching from Gaza to be inexcusable and an act of terrorism. Although casualties were rare (three deaths in seven years), the town was traumatized by the unpredictable explosions. About 3,000 residents had moved to other communities, and the streets, playgrounds and shopping centers were almost empty. Mayor Eli Moyal assembled a group of citizens in his office to meet us and complained that the government of Israel was not stopping the rockets, either through diplomacy or military action.

Knowing that we would soon be seeing Hamas leaders from Gaza and also in Damascus, we promised to assess prospects for a cease-fire. From Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, who was negotiating between the Israelis and Hamas, we learned that there was a fundamental difference between the two sides. Hamas wanted a comprehensive cease-fire in both the West Bank and Gaza, and the Israelis refused to discuss anything other than Gaza.

We knew that the 1.5 million inhabitants of Gaza were being starved, as the U.N. special rapporteur on the right to food had found that acute malnutrition in Gaza was on the same scale as in the poorest nations in the southern Sahara, with more than half of all Palestinian families eating only one meal a day.

Palestinian leaders from Gaza were noncommittal on all issues, claiming that rockets were the only way to respond to their imprisonment and to dramatize their humanitarian plight. The top Hamas leaders in Damascus, however, agreed to consider a cease-fire in Gaza only, provided Israel would not attack Gaza and would permit normal humanitarian supplies to be delivered to Palestinian citizens.

After extended discussions with those from Gaza, these Hamas leaders also agreed to accept any peace agreement that might be negotiated between the Israelis and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who also heads the PLO, provided it was approved by a majority vote of Palestinians in a referendum or by an elected unity government.

more...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/07/AR2009010702645.html

[G_j]

1. thank you, Jimmy (and babylon sister) nt

[Idealism]

2. Carter always was an anti-semite

:sarcasm:

But on a serious note:

Seventeen mosques, the American International School, many private homes and much of the basic infrastructure of the small but heavily populated area have been destroyed. This includes the systems that provide water, electricity and sanitation. Heavy civilian casualties are being reported by courageous medical volunteers from many nations, as the fortunate ones operate on the wounded by light from diesel-powered generators.

[madrchsod]

3. when the historians look back on our presidents jimmy carter

will be one of our greatest..not for what he did as president but what he has done after he left.

is there another american that has done as much as carter has in the last 29 years to promote democracy,health care,shelter,and peace across the world?

we will have a record of the truth and that will be carters legacy

[Still Sensible]

4. I really admire and respect Jimmy Carter

and I know he does it because the general U.S. media and government reports are so imbalanced, but to call the tunnels "defensive" is misleading if that is how Hamas was getting armaments in. I applaud Carter also for hammering home the real human cost of Israeli policies.

No question the time is now (past, actually) for Israel to get to a cease fire stance. They are the powerful party here. That said, if Hamas would accept the terms of the France/Egypt proposal, it would at least stop the carnage. Of course, Hamas is unwilling to do so because it threatens their power base politically.

One thing Jimmy Carter figured out a long time ago is that unless and until you can look at this situation (and others) in something broader than *us-vs-them* terms, you cannot have any progress. Obviously, the current bunch of neocons only sees us-vs-them and, politically, tries to paint every issue they can in those terms.

JMHO