Robert Novak , in the Washington Post, reviews the new documentary movie soon to be released, “Jimmy Carter: Man From Plains.”
Says Novak, “In the film, Carter repeatedly and unequivocally states, to achieve Israeli-Palestinian peace, with all its benefits for the world, Israel must end its illegal and oppressive occupation of the West Bank. That is a prerequisite that neither President Bush nor congressional leaders of both parties can approach for fear of being labeled anti-Israeli or even anti-Semitic (as Carter has been).”
Jonathan Demme, the director of “The Silence of the Lambs,” is the producer of “Jimmy Carter: Man From Plains.” Novak reports that the new movie will arrive in theaters just before the Bush administration’s proposed Middle East conference in Annapolis, scheduled for the end of this month. Novak says it is a “beautiful fascinating film.”
Says Novak,
In the movie, Carter repeatedly declares that Israel must end its occupation of Palestine for peace to have a chance. The hecklers at his appearances and confused interviewers only provoke a stubborn Carter, who says chopping up the West Bank is actually worse than apartheid, just as Palestinian peace-seekers told me this year in Jerusalem.
A broader, more detailed analysis can be found in the newly updated American version of “Lords of the Land” by Professor Idith Zertal and leading Israeli columnist Akiva Eldar. This scathing account of the occupation, first published in Israel in 2005, declares that former prime minister Ariel Sharon’s plan for a security wall was intended to “take hold of as much West Bank territory as possible and block the establishment of a viable Palestinian state.”
As Israelis, Eldar and Zertal employ language that not even Carter dares use: “Israel’s lofty demands that Palestinians strengthen their democracy and impose control on extremist organizations is … nothing but deceptive talk covering its own deeds, which are aimed at achieving exactly the opposite — of eroding Palestinian society.”
In “Man From Plains,” Carter goes further in this direction than any other prominent American has to date, and people who wander into a movie theater to see the film may be shocked. It raises questions that must at least be asked for the contemplated conference at Annapolis to have any chance.
Carter is persona non grata, but I hope he lives long enough for people to see how far sighted he actually was; America had a chance to discard foreign oil and deal with the Palestinian question and we did not. Now we are backed in a corner with Israel on one side and Oil on the other. Interesting dilemma, but we are blessed to live in interesting times.
One can read about the developing Palestinian bantustan by getting the following books from the WSU library:
“Hollow Land: Israel’s Architecture of Occupation”
by Eyal Weizman
“A Civilian Occupation: The Politics of Israeli Architecture”
by Rafi Segal, David Tartakover, and Eyal Weizman
….second one is briefer and more graphics-based. First one is more text/essay. Despite the titles the books are perhaps more about regional geography and planning (and military operation theorys) as much as about architecture.
Life on the Rez..
Jeffery, I love the delivery.
Please spare us commentary from a traitor who exposes US undercover agents to promote his political agenda. Novak should be serving jail time.