QUOTE
(snipped)
“In my opinion, maybe the worst ally Israel has had in Washington has been the George W. Bush administration, which hasn’t worked to bring a permanent peace to Israel,” Carter told the newspaper.
(snipped)
“In my opinion, we should make every effort now to withdraw American troops from Iraq,” Carter said. “I would say certainly begin a major withdrawal no later than the end of this year.”
Read more at
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/.....index.html
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FYI
CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer interviewed Former President Carter this past Thursday.

QUOTE
Carter to Israel: Talk with Abbas

BLITZER: Should there have been legislation that makes English the official or national language of the U.S.?

CARTER: No, I don’t think so. You know, we have gotten along for more than 200 years without excluding other languages.

This is a country that is kind of a melting pot for languages around the world. And I don’t think there’s any need for it.

It’s just kind of one of those emotional issues that can turn one part of America against another. You know, we have survived OK without such language. And I think just to specifically say that it’s the only language that we will accept officially is the wrong approach.

BLITZER: Let’s talk a little bit about human rights in the West Bank, in Gaza, the Palestinian-Israeli problem, which is clearly very much on your agenda right now.

You say the elections were very free, very fair, the elections that saw Hamas win and become the leader of this new Palestinian government.

Listen to what … Ehud Olmert, the [Israeli] prime minister, said this week at the White House about this new Hamas-led Palestinian government:

“The rise of Hamas, a terrorist organization, which refuses to recognize Israel’s right to exist and regards terrorism as a legitimate tool, severely undermines the possibility of promoting a genuine peace process.”

Is the peace process effectively dead right now?

CARTER: Well, it depends on the judgment to be made by Israel and the Palestinians and with a heavy influence from Washington.

There is now a very clearly identified interlocutor or negotiator who represents the Palestinian community from two points of view. One is the president of the Palestine National Assembly, and that is Mahmoud Abbas. And the other point of view is a leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, the PLO. And that is the same person, Mahmoud Abbas.

And so he has been going around national capitals in Europe and other places during the last few months, strongly calling for direct talks between himself and representatives of the Israeli government. And there have been statements made even by Hamas leaders that they favor these direct talks between Abbas and representatives from Israel. So…

BLITZER: Mr. President, excuse me for interrupting. Olmert says that [Abbas] is powerless, he’s helpless. He thinks he’s a good man, but he … has no longer the authority to deliver anything.

CARTER: Well, I don’t want to get into a debate with the prime minister of Israel, whom I respect very much. But the fact is that there are only two positions that are distinct positions of authority.

One is the head of the Palestinian government, and the other is the head of the [Palestine] Liberation Organization. And the PLO is the only organization, as you know, that the government of Israel recognizes.

So Abbas can speak for the Palestinian community officially. He’s also been the one in the past, as you know, that was endorsed by the United States government under President Bush and by the Israeli government under the former prime minister of Israel, [Ariel] Sharon.

So if there is a desire to have peace talks, obviously, the Palestinians have a representative who can speak for the Palestinian people.

BLITZER: Israel is saying, the government of Israel, that if there are no negotiations, Israel will take unilateral action to disengage, as he calls it, from the West Bank, at least from parts of the West Bank.

I know you’ve written an article suggesting that would be an illegal land grab, words to that effect… . I asked Olmert about your article on “Late Edition” last Sunday. Here’s what he said about your comments. Listen to this:

“I have enormous respect for President Carter, who [comes] to visit me every now and then when he’s in Israel. I think some of his statements are different than the ones he writes when he’s far away.

“But I think that the basic point is this: Shall we negotiate with a terrorist government? I don’t know that there is one serious American representative that will advise Israel to sit with a terrorist government and negotiate with them.”

Do you want to comment on that?

CARTER: I think I just have, Wolf. I’m not advocating that Prime Minister Olmert negotiate with the Hamas organization. I’m advocating they negotiate with Mahmoud Abbas, who is the president of the Palestinian organization, the government. And also the head of the PLO.

I haven’t advocated that assistance of economic character be given through the Hamas government. What I’ve advocated is that humanitarian assistance only be given directly to the people in the West Bank and Gaza through the United Nations agencies, perhaps. Through the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees, through UNICEF and other organizations — bypassing the Hamas government.

So there’s a difference between Hamas on the one hand, with whom Israel will not negotiate and which the United States cannot recognize, and the Palestinian people on the other. And their own chosen president and leader of the PLO, Mahmoud Abbas.

BLITZER: Mr. President, I want to leave it on a happy note. This week, you and your former vice president, Walter Mondale, became the longest living ex-president and ex-vice president in American history, beating [John] Adams and [Thomas] Jefferson. …

CARTER: Thank you, Wolf. All you have to do is live a long life and choose a healthy vice president.

more at
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITI.....index.html
UNQUOTE

Peace programs at the Carter Center
http://www.cartercenter.org/pe.....acepgm.htm

Calling for Israel’s restraint is nearly laughable considering that the Islamic communities have been calling for the death of Israel and the Jewish people ever since Israel became a recognized country.

In all actuality, the onus is on the Arabic countries to show restraint and not call for the death of Israel and her people worldwide.
http://www.iris.org.il/sizemaps/arabwrld.htm

Compare Israel with India: http://www.iris.org.il/sizemaps/india.htm

In a way, using India as an example, the possibilty for peoples in the Middle East to live in harmony, peace is not so farfetched after all.

QUOTE
MEET THE PRESS
MR. FRIEDMAN:

You know, you ever ask yourself, Tim, what’s the second largest Muslim country in the world? It’s India. It’s not Pakistan or Iran. What do we see in India? Just a couple of weeks ago, 350 Indians killed in what is widely suspected an attack by Muslim extremists in Mumbai in a train station. But the Indian reaction was incredibly restrained. Why is that? You know, why don’t Indian Muslims, you know, get their buzz this way? Could it be because the richest man in India is a Muslim software entrepreneur? Could it be because the president of India is a Muslim? Could it be because there’s an Indian Muslim woman on the Indian Supreme Court? Could it be because the leading female movie star in India is a Muslim woman? You know, when people get their dignity from building things rather than confronting other people, it’s amazing what politics flows from that. And I think that’s something the Arab world also needs to be reflecting on now.
Read more at
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14028605/page/6/
UNQUOTE

Yep, here are two articles from the Washington Post, “What next, Lebanon?” by Shadid and “Stop the Band-Aid Treatment” by Carter, the ones I mentioned yesterday.

I’m focusing on the parts where the crisis could have been averted and we would not be in this Middle East mess.

Also, Shadid discussed the psychology of warfare. Considering the fact that Bush’s goal is to dismantle Hizballah, so far the government of Israeli hardly made a dent in wiping out the Hizballah. For that reason, the Arab Nations have acknowledged the survival of Hizballah, which means victory.

QUOTE
What Next, Lebanon?
Consternation Grips Nation as It Again Looks Up From War’s Ruins

By Anthony Shadid
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, July 30, 2006; A01

MUKHTARA, Lebanon, July 29 — From his hilltop citadel, Walid Jumblatt was a worried man Saturday. In Lebanon’s Byzantine, ever-shifting politics, the leader of the country’s Druze community has emerged as one of Hezbollah’s harshest critics. But a savvy veteran, he understood the arithmetic of the Middle East these days: In war, survival often means victory. And after 18 days of the conflict with Israel, he was bracing for what Hezbollah’s survival would mean for a country seized with volatile uncertainty.

Lebanon’s survival, he said, was now in the hands of Hezbollah and its leader, Hasan Nasrallah.

“We have to acknowledge that they have defeated the Israelis. It’s not a question of gaining one more village or losing one more village. They have defeated the Israelis,” he said. “But the question now is to whom Nasrallah will offer this victory.”

Read more at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....01107.html
UNQUOTE

QUOTE
Stop the Band-Aid Treatment
We Need Policies for a Real, Lasting Middle East Peace

By Jimmy Carter
Tuesday, August 1, 2006; Page A17

The general parameters of a long-term, two-state agreement are well known. There will be no substantive and permanent peace for any peoples in this troubled region as long as Israel is violating key U.N. resolutions, official American policy and the international “road map” for peace by occupying Arab lands and oppressing the Palestinians. Except for mutually agreeable negotiated modifications, Israel’s official pre-1967 borders must be honored. As were all previous administrations since the founding of Israel, U.S. government leaders must be in the forefront of achieving this long-delayed goal.

Read more at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....00923.html

Hezbollah and North Vietnamese (”NV”) fought virtually the same type of warefare. The aim of war for them is a psychological victory.

NV leader, Minh, knew he could not match the U.S. in military strategic. Instead, he used media. Same can be said about the Hellzboh…

It amazes me that… the developed world still have not learnt how Vietnam War to defeat this type of warefare.