SA Inquiry Question #1 Response

SA Inquiry Question # 1: What difficult or complex things are happening in the text?

            “Palestine Peace Not Apartheid” by former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, informs readers about the conflict occurring in the Middle East between Israel and Palestine. I’ve only read a few chapters in the book so far but there are still many complex things occurring in the text told by Jimmy Carter. So far, he’s explained the conflict and told the story of his visit to Israel years back. But still, because the conflict is so complex there are many complex things  to be told while explaining the conflict. So far the most difficult and complex things that Jimmy Carter has brought  up include war, unsteady relationships between nations, radical forces on either side and in society in general, America being the sole thing holding the two nations at peace, peace, and the destruction of religious land. When bringing up these deep ideas, Carter also sends messages to his readers about these complex societal issues about the specific conflict and beyond to send an even deeper message.

            A first complex societal issue in the text is war and unsteady relationships between nations. Jimmy Carter brings up many war scenes from the conflict’s past and even that of violence that has occurred not too long ago. Here’s an example of this, “During its early years, Israel had appeared vulnerable to punishing Arab attacks, but the 1967 war demonstrated that its forces were more effective than those of its neighbors.” Although, this is only a small example it is part of a very large idea that needs a lot of thinking and prior knowledge of the topic. You’d have to understand what had happened during the 1967 war to understand the conflict as a whole, war in general takes a lot of deep thinking and that’s why I thought that it was one of the biggest complex things in the text. He’s talking about war but at the root of it, is a much bigger conflict that affects the whole International community. It’s been a conflict that has been taking place since a very long time ago. Jimmy Carter includes a timeline of its history in the beginning of the book. It is a conflict taking place for a piece of land that is holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims, and so this just shows that it’s deeper than just a small conflict between two nations. Another time Jimmy Carter brings up war and violence, he brings up a more recent event, “The recent outbreak of violence in Gaza and between Israel and Lebanon…” this is just proof of how unsteady relationships are in the land region. With there being an attack on Palestinian territory between Israel and Palestine and another conflict between Israel and Lebanon Jimmy Carter is showing how complex the issue is. This brings up another topic, Carter continues with this idea of unsteady relationships by describing, Israel’s unsteady relationships with other Arab countries. This shows the reader what kind of problems are taking place in the area of the conflict before getting deeper into the more complex things in the conflict. Jimmy Carter’s message when writing about war and violence is that war is the most obvious and apparent issue in the land region. The Middle East has too many conflicts and the nations within them don’t all get along. He is trying to add to the complexity of the idea, before talking to the reader about the issues within the conflict, Jimmy Carter wants to inform them of the past and to make the reader realize that it’s not just one problem, there are so many that have been developed over time. He wants to show that it’s at its most basic a war zone. War separates people and keeps them far from peace. 

            Another complex societal issue in the text is radical forces on either side and in society in general. Jimmy Carter says, “Continuing impediments have been the desire of some Israelis for Palestinian land, and the refusal of some Arabs to accept Israel as a neighbor.” In this quote, Jimmy Carter uses the word ‘some’ to describe these radical forces on both sides that are not willing to make peace, which Jimmy Carter says is the main solution that is being sought for the region. Another time he brings this up is when he says, “There was an expressed desire among some radical Israelis to retain the captured territories,” what he is trying to say again is that both sides are hardheaded and are keeping the two from peace. But Jimmy Carter tries to send two messages when he speaks of this societal issue. He tries to point out that these radical forces are only a few of the people on either side and that they don’t represent the whole of each of the groups. But what they do, do is ruin the efforts of peace of either side between each other. The even larger message and the one at the root of these ideas is that all around the world there are radical forces that prevent peace, and if they weren’t there, there would be a lot less hate and war in the world. People would just get along.  But even one person who disagrees with peace efforts could steer people away from peace. These people will always be in our lives and if they could just think of how good life would be if it were peaceful they’d realize that fighting isn’t worth it.

            There is another large idea that Jimmy Carter pints out a lot and that’s the idea of America being the bond maker and the sole thing keeping the two countries together. He says, “In spite of the obvious need to resolve differences, the peace effort doesn’t have a life of its own; it is not self-sustaining.” He goes on to talk about the way America is the one that needs to constantly remind both sides of the peace agreements that they’re supposed to have. He also says, “The United States will always be preoccupied with Iraq, Iran, North Korea, or other strategic responsibilities”. What Carter is really trying to say is that America can’t just focus on resolving the conflicts between Palestine and Israel, when it has to take care of its self and is the guardian of even bigger problems in other nations. This comes to the larger idea or message, America is like a big caregiver for all of the nations, like a babysitter, watching what that nation does and advising it to do what’s best. America is like the father of all nations, nurturing them and needing always to aid them. My friend Sam Browning, my Social Studies teacher, Ms.Maier and I were all talking about this idea in the beginning of the school year and I found it interesting that Jimmy Carter, the former president also had a similar perspective and message to send to the people to realize the value of America to all other nations. He builds up on this idea by saying that America makes multiple efforts to sustain peace between Palestine and Israel.

            This brings up the next complex idea in the text, peace in general and efforts for peace. He says, “Strong support for peace talks must come from the United States, preferably involving representatives of the United Nations, the European Union and Russia. Until recently, America’s leaders were known and expected to exert maximum influence in an objective, nonbiased way to achieve peace in the Middle East”. With this Jimmy Carter builds on the idea that America pushes peace efforts forward for resolving the conflict. Again he does this by saying, “The United States stands almost alone in its undeviating backing of Israel”. Not only does he mean to say that the United States is almost the only nation supporting Israel with Palestinians having so much support mostly coming from other Arab countries but also that the United States is needed to help support the country to keep peace with Palestine, so again he sends the same message. He speaks of an old visit to Israel… “We were guests at an exciting and somewhat boisterous lunch with the Muslim mayor, his Christian deputy, the Jewish mayor of Upper Nazareth, and a number of their families and friends. He also says, “It was obvious why control of this site was so important Israel militarily, pending a peace agreement with Syria”. What he means is that there are still signs of peace. This brings me to Jimmy Carter’s larger message about peace. He says that America is a large part of the peace efforts being made. But, his large message is that there is still a large chance for peace between the two countries. Although there has been a lot of destruction in the relationship, it can always be sewed back together again and although there are radical forces and conflicting ideas peace is still pliable. His even larger message is that this is can also happen all around the international community, there is still a large chance at peace and unity between people everywhere and we just need to fight for it! Not only can peace be reached and an agreement made between only Israel and Palestine but al of the other nations around the world who are simply “enemies”. There is no need for enemies in this world.

            Jimmy Carter also wants to make clear that the land that is being disputed over is a piece of holy land to three religions, two of them being the largest in the world. He wants people to realize that it’s not just a piece of land being fought over but land that both Muslims and Christians and Jews believe was once where prophets walked. Muslims and Christians both believe that this is the lad where Jesus was born and raised. So, in fact it’s not just a piece of land and it’s why the conflict between Palestine and Israel has taken so long to be resolved, neither side wants to let go of it because of its religious value, I don’t blame either side, it makes sense. Along with this idea, Jimmy Carter brings up that this beautiful land is being destroyed and that when he went he couldn’t even recognize from the stories that he was read from the Bible because of the change that had been made to the sacred land. He says, “This made it easier to understand why the holy sites we visited in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Hebron, Jericho and Nazareth were so different than we expected. They seemed buried belowground, closed in, tinseled, and highly commercial, not simple and primitive, as we had always imagined.” This makes me think that in fact maybe the two nations have been fighting for so long that they almost forgot that this was holy land, at least that’s what it seems like, has this conflict just become over land? This is the message that I think Jimmy Carter is trying to send with this.

            Remember that I’ve only read a little bit of this book written by former president, Jimmy Carter and his thoughts have been sent straight through from the beginning. I’d recommend the book, as his thoughts seem interesting and will make you think of the conflict more, as it made me. In the book he brings up many complex things and behind each is a message and a root.