14 Carter Center Advisory Board Members Resign Over Book

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Fourteen members of a Carter Center advisory board who worked to build support
for the human rights organization started by former President Jimmy Carter and
his wife have resigned in protest over Carter’s latest book.

The resignations, announced Thursday, are the latest in a backlash against the
former president’s book “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid,” which has drawn fire
from Jewish groups, been attacked by fellow Democrats and led to the
resignation last month of Kenneth Stein, a Carter Center fellow and a longtime
Carter adviser.

In their letter of resignation, the members of the Center’s Board of Councilors
wrote of Carter, “you have clearly abandoned your historic role of broker in
favor of becoming an advocate for one side.”

The board is responsible for building public support for the Carter Center. It
is not the organization’s governing board. Carter Center Executive Director
John Hardman said Thursday in a written statement that the board’s members “are
not engaged in implementing work of the Center.”

Hardman offered no further comment other than thanking the resigning members
for their service.

The book follows the Israeli-Palestinian peace process starting with Carter’s
1977-1980 presidency and the peace accord he negotiated between Israel and
Egypt. It doles out blame to Israel, the Palestinians, the United States and
others, but it is most critical of Israeli policy.

The 14 members of the 200-member board said the book “portrays the conflict
between Israel and her neighbors as a purely one-sided affair with Israel
holding all the responsibility for resolving the conflict.”

Steve Berman, an Atlanta real estate developer among those who resigned, said
members were concerned by the book’s “one-sided approach” and then “watched
with great dismay” as Carter defended it in comments to the press, especially
as he implied that Americans might be afraid to discuss the conflict in fear of
a powerful Jewish lobby.

Berman said the religious affiliation of the resigning members, which include
some prominent Jewish leaders in the Atlanta area, didn’t influence their decision.

14 Carter Center Advisory Board Members Resign Over Book

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Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME) is not-for-profit [501 (C) (3)], grass-roots community of scholars who have united to promote honest, fact-based, and civil discourse, especially in regard to Middle East issues. We believe that ethnic, national, and religious hatreds, including anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism, have no place in our institutions, disciplines, and communities. We employ academic means to address these issues.

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