Public Comment

INDEED, IT IS APARTHEID 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Matthew Taylor’s excellent commentary on President Carter’s courageous book is just what this country needs to bring peace to the troubled Middle East. It is no help for anyone to deny what is before our very eyes. These echo the thoughts of Shulamit Aloni, former Minister of Education under President Rabin who wrote a recent editorial in the popular “Yediot Acharonot,” Israel’s largest circulating newspaper. Aloni also affirmed the truthfulness of Carter’s words.  

How do we as Americans respond? This next June marks the 40th anniversary of the illegal occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza. We expect tens of thousands to converge on Washington DC to say a resounding NO to continuing U.S support for the occupation. We need all people of goodwill across the nation to be a part of this effort. We the people stopped US support of South Africa Apartheid, when most politicians were reluctant to oppose the status quo. This June we will again make history. See www.endtheoccupation.org for more information. 

Jim Harris 

• 

LEFT-WING LUNACY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Imagine if you would a former U.S. president prior to World War II supporting the people and government of Germany during the era of the Third Reich, a tyranny based upon demonization of Jews. Now leap forward to ex-president Jimmy Carter’s support of the Palestinians, a people who freely elected Hamas, a party which like the Nazis advocates Jewish genocide, a political organization similar to its predecessor Fatah in its dedication to the destruction of Israel. 

Moreover, that Carter would appropriate the term “apartheid,” heretofore only ascribed to Israel by the lunatic left, is as disgusting as it is inappropriate. Twenty per cent of Israel’s citizenry are Palestinians and other than not being permitted to serve in the army, they have all the rights and privileges of Israel’s Jewish populace. Indeed, if Israel’s Arab populace were so oppressed, why do they not move a few miles to live with their Arabic brethren in Palestinian-ruled Gaza or the West Bank? 

There is not sufficient space in a letter to detail all the flaws and outright lies in Carter’s screed. Since the book’s publication, the former head of the Carter Center has eviscerated the ex-president for the manifest inaccuracies within the tome and Dennis Ross, Clinton’s chief envoy to the Middle East and a mediator in the meeting between Clinton, Arafat and Barak, has scoffed at the untruths Carter has penned about peace talks during the Clinton presidency. 

And now we see an absurd op-ed in the pages of this publication by one Matthew Taylor. Without any substantiation, Taylor parrots Palestinian propaganda spouting allegations that “many” Arab women have given birth to stillborn babies because they couldn’t get through Israel’s protective barrier (which has saved countless lives by its deterrance of suicide bombers). And that Israel has some “plan” to “force” thousands of Palestinians to emigrate. Couple this with absurd allegations of “ethnic cleansing” because Israel has bulldozed houses hiding tunnels for arms-smuggling, a fabricated quote supposedly from Ariel Sharon, the cartoonish notion of Israeli usurpation of water for swimming pools while Palestinians scrounge for enough to barely subsist, and other such inanities, and one wonders what opiate Mr. Taylor has been smoking. 

Well, one need not wonder too much as Taylor is identified as a “fifth year Peace and Conflict Studies” student at UC Berkeley. He hails from a department infamous for its politically simplistic student-initiated courses and those taught by some of Berkeley’s most ideologically-driven faculty. Most responsible UCB professors laugh at this department and those I know tell me that PCS students are not the “sharpest nails in the shed.” Indeed, Mr. Taylor affords ample evidence of this in his commentary. 

Yes, Mr. Taylor, Carter is right when he says there is apartheid in the Middle East. But President Peanut Brain mislocates its source. For it is the Palestinians who are the true practitioners of odious societal fissures, be it third class citizenry for women, the brainwashing of children taught to become homicidal martyrs, the honor murder of young women, the brutalization of homosexuals, or the suppression of intellectuals. In sum, if one truly cares about the violence of discrimination, one must first look to the Palestinians whose practices are sickeningly at odds with any semblance of a civil and progressive social order. 

Dan Spitzer 

Kensington 

• 

WHY I’LL READ CARTER’S BOOK 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

No doubt Matthew Taylor’s defense of Jimmy Carter’s Palestine Peace Not Apartheid will be met with the same condemnations that greeted Carter, (and I quote) “rigidity of thought,” “apologist for terrorists,” “one blatant falsehood after another,” “warped sense of history,” “malice and error,” “delivered from on high and believed on faith,” and, of course, “anti-Semite” (in Taylor’s case I suppose “self-hating Jew” might be added). I have not yet read Carter’s book, nor am I well enough informed to evaluate every bit of it or of Taylor’s article. Yet, I feel I ought not to be silent as the usual avalanche of furious letters hits the Daily Planet. Jimmy Carter does not need my defense. His worldwide stature is so secure that these attacks may only sell more books. Bill Cosby could not be destroyed by attacks following his speech before the NAACP about the dangers to his people from within black culture. Turgenev survived the attacks from the Leftist rebels, worse than from Czarist police, after publishing Fathers and Sons (though he had to leave Russia to live in peace). Hardy stopped writing novels after the reaction to the truths he wrote about English poverty, marriage law, sex, and education in Jude the Obscure, but he always wanted to go back to writing poetry anyway. Orwell’s career was almost nipped in the bud when his Homage to Catalonia detailed how he saw the Stalinist communists killing anarchists during the Spanish Civil War, barely escaping with his own life, but he bounced back with savage fantasy satires like 1984 that have never stopped selling. 

The greater danger is the effect of such attacks on writers or public servants who are not so famous as to live safely above the fray. Only one example: Kate Chopin, whose The Awakening (1900)—with its very delicately expressed story of female sexuality overruling “sacred” motherhood—wrecked her career. Chopin (widowed mother of six) died young, forgotten until feminists revived her work in the 1970s. How many other expressions of denied realities are murdered at birth by hostile social, religious, or political special interests? Like the exhibit of the Enola Gay (the plane that carried the atom bomb to Hiroshima) canceled by the Smithsonian Aeronautical and Space Museum (1997), when veterans’ groups united and lobbied legislators to protest captions whose wording failed to portray the Japanese as complete devils? How many beginning writers, seeing attacks on famous leaders like Carter, will risk being attacked in this way before they even get started? Or will write a controversial book that no publisher would touch? Why write it? Why support someone who has the guts to write it? Play it safe. Keep quiet. Back in 1999, in the New York Times, Margot Jefferson described a PEN-sponsored panel discussion by prominent writers titled, “Blasphemy: What You Can’t Say Today in America.” According to Jefferson the panelists did not talk about being ostracized for something they had written. They talked about fear of being ostracized, about “what happens when one is left alone with the constraints the psyche imposes, and with anxieties about how one’s audience will respond.” In other words, they talked about what they were not writing, out of fear of their readers. 

If this doesn’t scare us, it should. That’s why I believe it is important for me to buy Carter’s book, to thank Matthew Taylor for his defense of it, and to thank the Daily Planet for printing Taylor’s piece. 

Dorothy Bryant 

• 

CARTER DESERVES CREDIT 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Thank you for publishing Matthew Taylor’s commentary in the Berkeley Daily Planet on the new book by Jimmy Carter, Palestine: Peace not Apartheid, in which Mr. Carter has correctly described what is happening in the Occupied Territories. Anyone who has traveled to Gaza or the West Bank cannot but be shocked by what crimes are being committed quite openly by the Israeli army and Jewish settlers. It is a situation which is worse than Apartheid, and although this term still seems to be taboo in the United States, even critical Israeli journalists, writers and soldiers and reservists who have served in the Army are writing and speaking constantly and honestly about it. It is a pity that this criticism is hardly ever found in U.S. media. 

I have been to Israel and the Occupied Territories 14 times, and have seen the situation for myself, as Mr. Taylor has done. Mr. Carter deserves great credit for being truthful and courageous in writing this book and thanks are also due to Mr. Taylor for his commentary on the book and the situation. It is to be hoped that the fact that such a high-ranking person as Mr. Carter, a former President and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, has been brave enough to publish this book will have an impact on U.S. media and on the current, tragic situation in the Occupied Territories, a situation which is having a terrible effect on Palestinian life and society but will undoubtedly affect Israeli society itself in an adverse way if it is allowed to continue. Indeed, it is already doing so. 

No military solution and no military means will bring peace; only an end to the occupation and justice for both Palestinians and Israelis will bring peace to this troubled and tragic area. 

Paula Abrams-Hourani 

Vienna, Austria 

• 

FINDING OUR VOICE 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

Free speech is one of the most important values of progressive people. Speaking out against abuse or apathy is a core force for creative change and the betterment of people everywhere. But sometimes speech can be hurtful or even hateful. It is possible to promote free speech while drawing the line against hateful speech, but this careful balance must be subject to ongoing debate and scrutiny. Speech that is racist, homophobic, sexist, or violence-inciting needs to be dealt with effectively. 

Many progressive activists are concerned about the increase in hate speech against Jews. At a recent Bay Area antiwar rally, some protesters were chanting in Arabic, “Jews are our dogs.” At another local event, someone toted a sign with a Jewish star engulfing a swastika. A Hollywood figure notoriously accused Jews of “starting all the wars.” Even in this very newspaper, a letter was submitted accusing Jews of being responsible for their own oppression. These incidents need to be challenged, as the editor of this paper did in her op-ed denouncing anti-Semitism in response to the aforementioned hateful letter. 

Sometimes hate speech against Jews emerges from discussion of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but there is much confusion about where political discourse ends and anti-Semitism begins. Criticizing the decisions and actions of the Israeli government is not anti-Semitic. Sympathizing with the plight of Palestinians is not anti-Semitic. Plenty of Israelis and Jews do both of those things. However, referring to Jews as dogs or comparing them to Nazis is hateful, anti-Semitic and uninformed.  

Many progressives are looking for ways to constructively address this kind of anti-Semitism. Sometimes it emerges from ignorance and misinformation. Sometimes it is a product of a lack of good communication or general anger. Sometimes, as with racism, anti-Semitic perspectives are the result of deep-seated historical and cultural prejudice against an entire group of people.  

A group of grassroots progressive activists are organizing a conference to help progressives deal with anti-Semitism in a constructive rather than confrontational manner. The conference is called Finding Our Voice. Finding Our Voice, January 28th, 2007, in San Francisco will bring together a number of diverse organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League, the New Israel Fund, and Americans for Peace Now united with the common cause of addressing this important issue. Our goal is to create a healing dialogue and a safe forum to address difficult issues in a proactive and helpful way. Non-Jewish progressive allies are very welcome. Speakers will include many thought-provoking activists, politicians, media professionals, and scholars, and there will be break-out sessions focusing on addressing the needs of feminists, queer activists, youth, and people of color. To register or to see a complete list of session, speakers, and co-sponsors visit: www.events.org/findingourvoice.  

This conference is not about Israel. It is not about the suffering the Palestinian-Israeli conflict causes on both sides. It is not about American foreign policy or Iraq. Instead, we are talking about the anti-Semitism that can surround these issues. By increasing awareness, we aim to inspire, educate and empower attendees with practical knowledge and tools to voice their opposition to hatefulness and direct their positive energy toward creating peace and justice.  

Tami Holzman 

ADL Assistant Director 

Oakland Resident