Challenging President Carter's
"Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid"

A book review of President Jimmy Carter's book, Palestine: Peace not Apartheid reads:

President Carter, who was able to negotiate peace between Israel and Egypt, has remained deeply involved in Middle East affairs since leaving the White House. He has stayed in touch with the major players from all sides in the conflict and has made numerous trips to the Holy Land, most recently as an observer in the Palestinian elections of 2005 and 2006.

In this book President Carter shares his intimate knowledge of the history of the Middle East and his personal experiences with the principal actors, and he addresses sensitive political issues many American officials avoid. Pulling no punches, Carter prescribes steps that must be taken for the two states to share the Holy Land without a system of apartheid or the constant fear of terrorism. The general parameters of a long-term, two-state agreement are well known, the president writes. 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 of a just agreement that both sides can honor.

Palestine Peace Not Apartheid is a challenging, provocative, and courageous book.


A "courageous book"? In what way? Because it challenges GOD and the Bible, along with a well-forgotten law of 1922 known as The Palestine Mandate?

"The Palestine Mandate" entrusted to Great Britain by the League of Nations recognized "the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine," and so Great Britain was called upon to facilitate the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine - Eretz Israel (Land of Israel). Three months later, in order to obtain full control over the Suez canal, Great Britain made a deal with Hashemite Kingdom, Egypt and France. The trans-Jordan (77% of the Mandate) was given to the king's brother in exchange for the Sinai, which was given to Egypt. Golan Heights (5% of the Palestinian Mandate) was ceded to the French controlled Syrian Mandate. This robbery was immediately legalized by the puppet of Great Britain and France - the League of Nations....

Man's legality aside, perhaps someone should remind former President Carter - a Christian who supposedly knows the Bible - that Israel is God's Land, and that He gave it to the Jews (Genesis 13:15 and 15:18); and He NEVER reneged on that promise.

Genesis 15:18 promises that the Jewish people would have their own country: On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram He said, "To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates..." This is talking specifically about the entire land of Israel. In truth, God gave more land to Israel than they possess right now!

Ezekiel 36:8-10 says Israel would be restored as a nation and repopulated with its people: "'But you, O mountains of Israel, will produce branches and fruit for my people Israel, for they will soon come home. I am concerned for you and will look on you with favor; you will be plowed and sown, and I will multiply the number of people upon you, even the whole house of Israel. The towns will be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt."

In other words, the prophet Ezekiel told us the Jews would return, rebuild and repopulate their fallen cities. That happened in 1948, when God used Hitler and the Holocaust to return Israel to the Jews and vice-versa! Not only that, but He did it in one day, exactly as the the prophet Isaiah promised:

Isaiah 66: 7 "Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she gave birth to a boy. 8 "Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a land be born in one day? Can a nation be brought forth all at once? As soon as Zion travailed, she also brought forth her sons.

With that kind of a promise, who is anyone (especially someone who supposedly knows the Bible!) to try to negate God's CLEAR word? Today there are around seven million Jews living in Israel - and as always, Satan is STILL busy trying to annihilate them and to negate their status as "God's Chosen". And he's using some powerful people as his puppets....

The bottom line is: Nowhere did God mention that the "Palestinians" or any Arab settlers were ever to have or keep the Land! The fact of the matter is:

  • God gave the Land to the Jews

  • The Bible tells us that, due to some circumstances beyond their control, the Jews had lost control of the Land - and that ultimately two Jews - Abraham and Jeremiah were the ONLY two people who ever actually purchased any of the Land that is Israel (Genesis 23:1-20 and Jeremiah 32:1-25), which showed that God was still on track with His ultimate plan!

The Arab Muslims never spent a dime toward the purchase of Israel - so what makes the Land theirs? As a matter of fact, before the Jews returned to the Land, Israel was a barren wasteland that nobody wanted, and which was basically occupied by Arab settlers who were kicked out of their own countries for various reasons. Mark Twain, who visited the area in 1867, described it as:

...a desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds -- a silent mournful expanse. ...A desolation is here that not even imagination can grace with the pomp of life and action.... We never saw a human being on the whole route.... There was hardly a tree or a shrub anywhere. Even the olive and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country.

God has kept His promises to Israel by (1) returning her to the Jews in 1948, and (2) Divine intervention was clearly evidenced by the Six-Day War of 1967 in which tiny Israel prevailed against several other bigger and stronger countries. Nobody - including the United States whose leaders seem to believe they are the policemen of the world - has a right to divide God's Land! This is especially true in view of the fact that NOTHING will appease the Muslims; nothing except the total annihilation of the Jews. (And by the way, the conflict between Israel and "Palestine"/Muslims began in Biblical times with the jealousy between Isaac and Ishmael - and it WON'T be resolved until Yeshua/Jesus returns!)

God gives stern warning to those who are against His Chosen People:

Genesis 12: 3 "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."

Deuteronomy 7:6-8: For you are a people set apart as holy for ADONAI your God. ADONAI your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his own unique treasure. 7 ADONAI didn't set his heart on you or choose you because you numbered more than any other people - on the contrary, you were the fewest of all peoples. 8 Rather, it was because ADONAI loved you, and because he wanted to keep the oath which he had sworn to your ancestors, that ADONAI brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from a life of slavery under the hand of Pharoah king of Egypt.

The Bible tells us that God's promises to Israel were UNCONDITIONAL:

Jeremiah 31:35-37: This is what the LORD says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar- the LORD Almighty is his name: "Only if these decrees vanish from my sight," declares the LORD, "will the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before me." This is what the LORD says: "Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below be searched out will I reject all the descendants of Israel because of all they have done," declares the LORD.

Romans 11:25-27: "I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins."

President Carter can write all the books he wants, but unless his words start lining up with the Bible, they are meaningless, and play right into Satan's hands. As a supposed Christian, he should know that no "lasting peace" is possible by forcing Israel to give up more of its rightfully owned land. As a matter of fact, no "lasting peace" will be made by any man's solution. That task belongs to Yeshua alone.

As an aside, according to a 1-01-2007 Daily News.Com article, 14 of Atlanta's business and civic leaders resigned from the Carter Center's advisory board "to protest former President Jimmy Carter's recent criticisms of Israel and American Jewish political power." The article goes on to say, "Their joint letter of resignation denounces Carter's best-selling book, 'Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid' for its criticisms of Israel's treatment of Palestinians. The letter also takes issue with Carter's suggestions that Israel's supporters are using their power to stifle debate on the issue...."

We, at The Refiner's Fire, pray that President Carter will wake up and realize the eternal implication of his anti-Israel stance. On Judgment Day, he WILL stand before his Maker to explain why he chose to deliberately ignore Genesis 12:3, Deuteronomy 7:6-8, and Jeremiah 31:35-37....