Former President Jimmy Carter and a Noble Peace Prize winner has released a book on the Middle East, titled “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid”. He addresses sensitive political issues many American officials avoid. 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.”

This book is long overdue. During Larry King interview on 11/27/2006, Carter answered all the criticism and questions put forward by Larry King. As with Professors Stephen Walt and Mearsheimer, President Carter brings a rare dose of truth to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The daily humiliations and killings by the Israelis of Palestinians would disgust most Americans. However, the mainstream media reports little of this. Palestinians have little in terms of human rights. Their land can be confiscated at whim; they can be arrested and imprisoned for years without charge or trial. President Carter book reverberates facts and realities. These are true facts of Zionist Israel aggression, oppression, cruelty and use of billion of US dollars of its expansionist policy.

President Carter know about the problem more than any other President in the history of the US and has been engaged in it since the 70's. 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.

Criticism of the book is based on ignorance and evident of evil bias. And anyone who dare criticize Israel’s policies is immediately accused of “anti-Semitism”. The message is clear: dare to criticize Israel, and the Zionists will attack. As for the US congress, Pat Buchanan calls a “Zionist-occupied territory”. And Zionist professors control “academic freedom” at American Universities and many universities will become Zionist-occupied territories too. Because of the manner in which the American press and broadcast media have caved in to pressure to the Zionist lobby, Standing up for truth, however, is never easy; These are interesting times to be in America, to be an American, and to be an American advocate of truth and justice.

Let us hope that book will begin an honest dialogue in this country and plan on giving this book as a Christmas gift to your friends and family "The Truth Shall Set You Free!

Mohammed Khaku

Allentown PA, USA.

Survey: Israel worst brand name in the world

A very interesting item indeed! Particularly revealing is the fact that Americans don't like Israel as much as they're being told to. This testifies once again to people's innate decency and commonsense, I think.

I'm in Germany at present, where it's quite clear that ordinary people are perfectly aware of Israel's perfidy, although the media here are even more grindingly pro-Israel than those in the US (literally!).

The recently issued "Manifesto of the 25" - a bunch of academics calling for a rethink of Germany's unconditional support for Israel - is making waves here and being subjected to the usual campaign of brutal defamation. Nonetheless, it's a first crack in the monolith. The times are changing.

Let's hope it's not too late for the Palestinians.

Raymond Deane

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Survey: Israel worst brand name in the world

As if Israel’s position in the world in not bad enough, a new survey published in the US Wednesday says that Israel is suffering from the worst public image among all countries of the world. The study, called the National Brands Index, conducted by government advisor Simon Anholt and powered by global market intelligence solutions provider GMI (Global Market Insite, Inc.), shows that Israel is at the bottom of the list by a considerable margin in the public’s perception of its image.

The Index surveyed 25,903 online consumers across 35 countries about their perceptions of those countries across six areas of national competence: Investment and Immigration, Exports, Culture and Heritage, People, Governance and Tourism. The NBI is the first analytical ranking of the world's nation brands.

"Israel's brand is by a considerable margin the most negative we have ever measured in the NBI, and comes at the bottom of the ranking on almost every question," states report author Simon Anholt.

Anholt believes that the politics of a nation can affect every single aspect of a person's perception about a country. In the light of the recent announcement that the Israeli Foreign Ministry has taken upon itself to re-brand Israel, Anholt comments that to succeed in permanently changing the country's image, the country has to be prepared to change its behavior. He reiterates his strong belief that a reputation cannot be constructed: it has to be earned.

"If Israel's intention is to promote itself as a desirable place to live and invest in, the challenge appears to be a steep one," Anholt concluded.

The survey also indicated that Israel came last in each area by a long margin, including the fact that of the 36 countries ranked, there is nowhere that respondents would like to visit less than Israel. Worse yet, the survey indicates that Israel’s people were also voted the most unwelcoming in the world.

And there was one more unpleasant surprise: Whoever thought that the United States is Israel’s best friend and Israel is loved in the US, the index indicated that Americans ranked Israel just slightly above China in terms of its conduct in the areas of international peace and security.

The 35 countries polled for the study were: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, UK, and the USA.

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=10395