If you believe that the root of much of the unrest in the world is in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, then you should read former President Jimmy Carter’s inspired new book: Palestine Peace Not Apartheid. It recounts the history of the conflict with a balanced, unflinching honesty that is much needed in the overheated debate that usually accompanies any discussion of the Middle East.

There is another reason to read this book: to counter the orchestrated effort to smear Carter and his book as biased and anti-Israeli. In fact, I first learned about the book’s existence, prior to its release, through an email from a friend urging everyone he knows to boycott it.

Now, when someone tells me I should avoid reading a book, I am just contrary enough to run right out and buy a copy. I read this one through in two days and was surprised, after reading it, by the rancor it has raised in the U.S.

I asked my friend if he had actually read the book, or was simply responding to a lobbying effort, and his response, sadly, was that in order to preserve our friendship, we should not discuss this issue any further.

Still, this is a book that should start, not end, discussions.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 2nd, 2007 at 8:10 am and is filed under Recommended Reading. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.