Carter expressed frustration with later results of this signature achievement

During our remembering of President Carter, we repeatedly hear how his 1978 Camp David Accords between Israeli Prime Minister Begin and Egyptian President Sadat was a great achievement.

His 2006 book “Peace, Not Apartheid” affected my perspective on peace in Israel. In this book, Carter expresses his frustrations with the fact that this peace deal was supposed to stop Israel from building more settlements in the occupied territories, but building settlements never stopped and continues to this day.

Here are a couple of quotes from Carter’s book.

Page 50: “Sadat always insisted that the priority must be adherence to U.N. Resolution 242 and self-determination for the Palestinians … Everyone knew that if Israel began building new settlements, the promise to grant the Palestinians ‘full autonomy’ would be violated.”

Page 52: “For Begin, the peace treaty with Egypt was a significant act for Israel, while solemn promises regarding the West Bank and Palestinians would be finessed or deliberately violated. With the bilateral treaty, Israel removed Egypt’s considerable strength from the military equation of the Middle East and thus it permitted itself renewed freedom to pursue the goals of a fervent and dedicated minority of its citizens to confiscate, settle, and fortify the occupied territories.”

It seems to me this book explains how the Camp David Accords ended up unintentionally supporting Israeli expansion over more Palestinian land, and not protecting Palestinian rights and a just peace.

Carter was for the nation of Israel, but he was called antisemitic for writing this book.

Clark Rieke

Cedar Rapids