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100-Year-Old Jimmy Carter Shows Us What Courage Looks Like on Israel-Palestine
As we celebrate and reflect on Carter’s life and legacy, let us amplify his call for the U.S. to be a genuine force for peace and justice around the world.
Oct 08, 2024
Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States who turned 100 this month, has built a legacy of courage and moral clarity over his many decades in public service, fighting tirelessly for peace and human dignity at home and around the world.
Now, as he nears the twilight of his life, we must take the time to reflect on one of his most courageous stances: his unwavering commitment to Palestinian dignity and self-determination.
In 1996, President Carter stood with us, the Palestinian people, as we voted for our leaders for the very first time. Though the Oslo peace process had failed to deliver the independent Palestinian state we had hoped for, Carter believed that the act of casting our ballots was still vital – that it was a chance to build a future rooted in peace and justice.
His presence in Palestine during that first election underscored our hopes for a brighter tomorrow, despite the heavy shadows of occupation and displacement.
What makes Jimmy Carter’s stance on Palestine unique is not only his moral courage, but the fact that he was once the most powerful man in the world.
In 2003, as the separation wall began to snake across the West Bank, I met President Carter once again at The Carter Center’s first-ever Human Rights Defenders Forum in Atlanta, Georgia.
There, I told him about the stark realities faced by Palestinians in the West Bank city of Qalqilia – 40,000 people encircled by concrete, with only one gate allowing them access to farms, medical care and the outside world. A single gate that opened and closed at the whim of Israeli soldiers, sometimes remaining shut for days at a time. As I updated him on the situation in Palestine, I called it what it is: apartheid, the separation of two peoples based on ethnicity, with one dominating the other through systemic injustice. Carter listened, intently and without judgement.
Just two years later, in 2005, he had the opportunity to see the reality for himself when he returned to Palestine to observe the presidential elections, in which I was the leading independent candidate against Fatah’s Mahmoud Abbas.
During this time, President Carter witnessed firsthand how Israel, rather than building bridges to secure peace, was constructing walls – walls that cut deep into Palestinian land, walls that annex settlements and water resources, walls that isolate Palestinians into enclaves. He also witnessed how, after a meeting we had in Jerusalem, the Israeli security service arrested me for no reason other than preventing me from talking to Palestinian voters there. It was during this visit, I believe, that it became clear to him that Israel was not preparing for peace, but instead consolidating control in ways that would make a two-state solution impossible.
In 2006, Carter published Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, a book that shook the American political landscape. In it, he laid out a simple truth: without Palestinian freedom and dignity, there could be no peace. He made the case not as an enemy of Israel, but as someone deeply invested in its survival. Yet, for daring to speak this truth, Carter was vilified. He was accused of being anti-Semitic and ostracized by many in the US and even his Democratic Party. But Carter never wavered. He continued to speak the truth about the realities in Palestine – not out of malice for Israel, but from a deep belief in justice.
He understood that the only way Israel could truly thrive was through a just peace with the Palestinians. He recognized that the Palestinian people, who have lived under brutal occupation since 1967 and experienced repeated displacement since 1948, were entitled to the same rights and dignity as anyone else. He recognized in later writings that it was my 2003 account of the situation in Qalqilia that made him understand the reality of apartheid in Palestine.
What makes Jimmy Carter’s stance on Palestine unique is not only his moral courage, but the fact that he was once the most powerful man in the world. As U.S. president, he tried to open the road to lasting peace. He could not secure Palestinian self-determination during his one-term presidency between 1977 and 1981, yet he refused to stop trying. In the decades since leaving office, he has turned every stone, searched for every possibility to bring about a just peace for Palestinians and all the people of the Middle East.
As we celebrate and reflect on Carter’s life and legacy, let us amplify his call for the U.S. to be a genuine force for peace and justice around the world.
Now, as he enters his 100th year and tributes pour in to honor his many humanitarian achievements, we must not forget that he was one of the most important truth-tellers of our time. Carter was willing to see the brutality inflicted on the Palestinian people and refused to remain silent about it. That is a rare kind of courage, especially for a former U.S. president, that should be recognized and remembered.
The best way we can honor Jimmy Carter, his bravery and unwavering moral clarity is to carry forward his commitment to equal human rights for all people.
The Palestinian struggle for self-determination is not just a political issue – it is a moral one. As Carter always emphasized, the U.S. has a special responsibility. Without American political and military support, Israel would not have been able to continue its ruthless occupation and apartheid against Palestinians or to commit the genocide in Gaza.
As we celebrate and reflect on Carter’s life and legacy, let us amplify his call for the U.S. to be a genuine force for peace and justice around the world. Let us recognize, as Carter wanted, that peace in our Holy Land will only come when the rights and dignity of Palestinians are acknowledged and respected. Only then will we truly be able to honor his legacy and the values he stood for so bravely.
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'Watershed Moment': Anti-Apartheid Conference on Palestine Kicks Off in South Africa
South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said the movement to end Israeli apartheid is "following in the footsteps of Nelson Mandela" and "will not rest until the freedom of the peoples of Palestine is realized."
May 10, 2024
As Israeli forces continued their devastating assault on the Gaza Strip and deadly occupation of the West Bank, human rights defenders from around the world gathered Friday in South Africa—which is leading a genocide case against Israel at the World Court—for the inaugural Global Anti-Apartheid Conference on Palestine.
The conference began with a moment of silence for the nearly 35,000 Palestinians—most of them women and children—killed by Israeli troops during the 217-day war and "complete siege," which has also wounded more than 78,000 people, displaced around 90% of the strip's population, and starved at least hundreds of thousands of others—dozens of whom have died.
Meanwhile, Israel's illegal occupation and settler colonization have intensified in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, where soldiers and settlers have killed at least 467 Palestinians and wounded or arrested thousands of others—some of whom were tortured—over the past seven months.
"This conference must make sure that we mobilize the world... and free the people of Palestine," Rev. Frank Chikane of the African National Congress (ANC) and World Council of Churches said at the start of the symposium.
Thanking Chikane for "spearheading" conference organizing efforts, South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor hailed the "watershed moment" of "anti-apartheid movements on Palestine from around the globe coming together and joining forces in the struggle for justice for the Palestinian people."
"It has never been so urgent for the progressive forces around the globe to come together in a collective effort to exert maximum pressure to end the genocidal campaign underway in Gaza, and to end the apartheid system in Israel and the occupied territories, which is worse than what we experienced in our own country," she asserted, echoing past remarks by other South Africans and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.
Pandor highlighted South Africa's December
filing of a genocide case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, a move supported by over 30 countries and regional blocs and hundreds of advocacy groups. In January, the ICJ found that Israel is "plausibly" committing genocide in Gaza and ordered its government to prevent future genocidal acts—an order human rights monitors say Israel has ignored, largely by blocking humanitarian aid. In March, the ICJ ordered Israel to allow more aid into Gaza.
"We will continue to do everything within our power to preserve the existence of the Palestinian people as a group, to end all acts of apartheid and genocide against the Palestinian people, and to walk with them towards the realization of their collective right to self-determination," Pandor said. "We continue to do so following in the footsteps of Nelson Mandela and will not rest until the freedom of the peoples of Palestine is realized."
Ronnie Kasrils—a communist who went from being a guerrilla fighter in the ANC's armed wing during the apartheid era to a government minister in a free South Africa—warned against compromising in the fight for freedom. He also reaffirmed Palestinians' legal right to "armed struggle, an international right of resistance against tyranny, against military occupation."
Anti-Apartheid stalwart Ronnie Kasrils gives a passionate address at the Global Anti-Apartheid Conference On Palestine. #PalestineAfrica2024 pic.twitter.com/32i6KQfA85
— Salaamedia (@salaamedia) May 10, 2024
"There is no need to pussyfoot around the fact when we have our discussions about the rights of the Palestinians to resist with arms," Kasrils stressed.
Palestinian lawmaker, physician, and activist Mustafa Barghouti said that "we've woken the people of the world against genocide and injustice... and hypocrisy of international governments."
"Israel initiated this war but Israel will not be the one who decides how it ends," he added.
Lamis Deek, a New York-based attorney specializing in international human rights, called for "liberation of all the land from institutions of Zionist violence and supremacy, return, reparations, justice and accountability for every Zionist crime, and restitution."
"The Palestinian resistance is on the frontline against global descent into darkness and barbarism" @Lamis_Deek speaks powerfully about what it we means when we speak about Palestinian liberation. At The Global Anti Apartheid Conference on Palestine#PalestineAfrica pic.twitter.com/2eKGrS2EZ6
— CAGE International (@CAGEintl) May 10, 2024
Declan Kearney, a member of Northern Ireland's Legislative Assembly and national chairman of the Irish republican and democratic socialist party Sinn Féin, noted that "Palestinian and Irish freedom fighters share a special bond. Our commitment is absolute and unbreakable."
The Republic of Ireland said in March that it would intervene in the South African ICJ case and the country—along with fellow European Union members Spain, Slovenia, and Malta—is set later this month to join the nearly 140 nations that recognize Palestinian statehood.
The United Nations General Assembly voted 143-9 on Friday to approve Palestine's bid for full U.N. membership. The United States—Israel's leading international backer—and Israel voted against the proposal, which will head to the U.N. Security Council and an almost certain U.S. veto.
Kearney echoed other speakers who stressed the importance of international solidarity, applauding the "unprecedented" global outpouring of support for Palestine.
"We are with the Palestinian people on their long walk to freedom and will never abandon them," he vowed.
While many Israelis and their backers bristle at the apartheid label, Palestinians and individuals ranging from Carter to the late South African bishop and human rights campaigner Desmond Tutu to United Nations special rapporteurs have for decades called Israel's policies and actions in Palestine apartheid.
Major human rights organizations—including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the Israeli groups B'Tselem and Yesh Din—have also done so. So have prominent Israelis including a former Mossad chief, multiple former attorneys general and ambassadors, and a growing number of journalists, artists, veterans, and others.
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'Genuinely Shocked They Aired It': CNN Interview Cuts Through Pro-Israel Propaganda on Gaza
"We should all have equal life, we should have all peace, we should all have justice, and we should live in dignity," said Dr. Mustafa Barghouti. "The main way to achieve that is to end occupation, end the system of apartheid."
Oct 09, 2023
Palestinian human rights advocates and historians called an interview broadcast on CNN late Sunday a "must-watch" for anyone seeking the broader context for the violence that erupted over the weekend, as Palestinian politician and advocate Dr. Mustafa Barghouti told anchor Fareed Zakaria that the surprise attack by Hamas followed decades of occupation and apartheid as well as the killings of thousands of Palestinian civilians by Israeli forces in recent years.
Zakaria introduced Barghouti by saying that the political leader of Hamas "has blamed the violence squarely on Israel's occupation of Palestinian land," adding Barghouti would provide "another Palestinian viewpoint" for viewers of "Fareed Zakaria GPS."
While condemning violence against civilians, Barghouti said the fighting has evolved as "the direct result of the continuation of the longest occupation in modern history" and used the same term accepted by the United Nations, thousands of academics, and international human rights experts—apartheid—to describe the system Palestinians have been forced to live under.
"There is one way to stop any violence and that is to end the Israeli occupation," said Barghouti. "And that is for the United States to be fair. They cannot say that Israel has the right to defend itself, but we the Palestinians don't have the right to defend ourselves... The only way to stop it is to tell Israel, 'You have to respect international law, you have to end this illegal occupation and accept Palestinians as equal human beings.'"
While Israeli officials have refused to meet with the Palestinian government in the past decade, Barghouti noted, Palestinian civilians have faced escalating violence by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and settlers, including the killing of 248 civilians—40 children among them—just this year in attacks on Jenin, Nablus, and other cities.
Meanwhile, he said, 20 communities have been evicted "in an act of ethnic cleansing," Israeli extremists have attacked Muslim and Christian holy sites, and far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has called for the entire Palestinian town of Huwara to be "wiped out" by his country's military as well as saying that "Palestinians have one of three options: only either to immigrate or accept a life of subjugation to Israelis, or die."
Barghouti's interview aired after the Hamas attack killed more than 700 people in Israel and as the group reportedly held more than 100 people hostage. Israel launched airstrikes in Gaza in response that killed more than 500 people and injured thousands, before officials announced a "complete siege" on the Gaza Strip, a region that has already faced a land, air, and sea blockade for 16 years.
Barghouti rejected the notion that the fighting over the weekend "will strengthen right-wing forces in Israel," as Zakaria said, and that it will ultimately make Palestinians' lives "harder," with restricted movement and impoverishment.
"Unfortunately, Fareed, what you have described is exactly what we already have, by 560 Israeli military checkpoints," said Barghouti. "The whole West Bank has been divided into 224 small ghettos separated from each other, and the settlers are everywhere attacking Palestinians. "Can we stop what's going on now? Yes, of course, all these Israelis who are now in Gaza can be released tomorrow... if Israel also accepts to release our 5,300 Palestinian prisoners who are in Israeli jails, including 1,260 Palestinians who are in jail without knowing why under the under the so-called "administrative detention."
The New Arab, a media outlet based in London, called Barghouti's interview "a rare occasion in media history where a Palestinian has been able to speak freely on live TV without being interrupted."
Human rights attorney Noura Erakat added that the discussion provided "an entire clinic to provide the context we need for a durable solution featuring justice with peace."
Barghouti concluded the interview by noting that Israel and its allies have identified no way for Palestinians to resist the decades-long occupation.
"If we struggle in a military form, we are terrorists, if we struggle in a nonviolent way we are described as violent, if we even resist with words we are described as provocative," he said. "If you support Palestinians and you are a foreigner, they describe you as an antisemite, and if you are a Jewish person—and there are many of those who support the Palestinian cause—they call them 'self-hating Jews.'"
"We should all have equal life, we should have all peace, we should all have justice, and we should live in dignity," he added. "The main way to achieve that is to end occupation, end the system of apartheid that I am sure no Jewish person can be proud of. Time has come for that and time has come for justice and freedom."
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