Haaretz
Tevet 23, 5767
BOSTON - Former U.S. president Jimmy
Carter should face "very hard questions" over his controversial book on
Israel, civil rights lawyer Alan Dershowitz said on Thursday, as Carter
faced a revolt from some of his own supporters.
Jewish groups have
expressed outrage at "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," arguing its
comparison of Israel's treatment of Palestinians with South Africa's
former system of racial segregation could undermine perceptions of
Israel's legitimacy.
Fourteen of the Carter Center advisory group's
200 members resigned on Thursday, saying they were "deeply troubled" by
the book and public comments by Carter, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in
2002 for helping mediate global conflicts.
"The book departs from
the president's traditional position of mediator and honest broker," said
Atlanta businessman Steve Berman, one of the 14 who left. "He has embraced
one side."
The group said the book, now No. 5 on The New York Times
nonfiction bestseller list, portrayed tension between Israel and its
neighbors as one-sided, with Israel "holding all of the responsibility for
resolving the conflict."
Dershowitz, a Harvard Law School professor
who has successfully defended O.J. Simpson and other unpopular figures,
said he would take Carter to task when the former president addresses a
forum at Brandeis University near Boston on January 23.
"I will
have my hand up the minute he finishes. It will be polite. It will be
dignified but it will be tough," Dershowitz told Reuters. "There are some
very, very hard questions that have to be asked to him.
"
Dershowitz said he wanted to ask Carter why he had accepted money
from Saudi Arabia and why the Carter Center, an Atlanta-based humanitarian
organization, had criticized Israel while not looking into human rights
abuses in Saudi Arabia.
"He claims that Jewish money buys the
silence of politicians and the media, and yet he denies that Arab money
has bought his silence," said Dershowitz.
Carter's spokeswoman was
not available to comment. Carter has said he was "completely at ease' with
the book and that its title was deliberately
provocative.
Protests
In the book, Carter traces the
history of the Middle East from the 19th century to the present via the
Camp David Accords in 1978, a year into his presidency.
Carter, 82,
has been dogged by protests during a promotional tour. Ken Stein, a
longtime advisor on Middle East issues who was also the first executive
director at the Carter Center, resigned over the book's
content.
Last month, Carter told the Boston Globe he previously
declined an invitation to speak at Brandeis because it came with the
suggestion he debate Dershowitz.
More than 100 students and faculty
signed a petition that said Carter should be invited to speak without
debating Dershowitz. But many questioned whether a ban on Dershowitz would
contradict the school's free-speech principles.
"We wouldn't bar
him from coming here. But whether or not people other than university
community members are going to be admitted to the event itself, that still
remains to be decided," said Brandeis spokesman Dennis Nealon.