by Eric S. Margolis
January 3, 2025
The late Jimmy Carter was an exemplary man. His honesty, modesty and good works set the mark for what American presidents should be like. He was the quintessential Christian gentlemen and a fine naval officer.
Unfortunately, this good man got embroiled in America’s colonial misadventures more often than the social welfare projects and peace plans that he sought to pursue. Chief among these thorny problems was, of course, the Mideast - no place for a decent, honest man - and, as well, the ugly imbroglio in Iran.
Carter directed and took credit for his administration’s flagship foreign policy effort, the much-ballyhooed Camp David Accords, a series of agreements that were supposed to end Arab-Israeli hostility, bring peace to the Mideast, and address the festering problem of millions of homeless Palestinians who had been driven from their ancestral homes by the US-backed creation of the state of Israel.
Long, torturous negotiations ensued in September 1978 at Camp David, Maryland that finally brought together Palestine Liberation chief Yasser Arafat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin. With great fanfare, agreement was proclaimed for Israel, PLO, and Egypt to recognize one another and embark on normal trade and diplomatic relations. The Palestinians of the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza were promised autonomy. Egypt was given $1.3 billion by the US; Israel was given $3 billion annually. All sorts of diplomatic and military goodies were offered. Peace was about to dawn.
But the dawn never came. Egypt’s then ruler, Anwar Sadat, took the American cash (some of it in Swiss banks it was alleged) and supported Israel’s plan to pack Palestinian refugees into the open-air Gaza prison. Both Sadat and Begin were awarded the Nobel Prize.
It was claimed Sadat had been on the CIA payroll since the early 1950’s. My journalist mother, Nexhmie Zaimi, interviewed Sadat and described him as ‘a clown.’ But a clever clown. Most Egyptians viewed Sadat as a traitor or crook.
Meanwhile, Israel began back-tracking on the accords. It refused to grant any independence to its captive Palestinians, imposed tighter military controls over them and continued expropriating Palestinian lands and building new Jewish settlements. In short, Palestinians were screwed.
Shocked and dismayed by the selling-out of Palestinians, Jimmy Carter actually wrote a book, ‘Peace not Apartheid’ that accused Israel of apartheid South African behavior towards Palestinians. Predictably, he was blasted by a tsunami of vitriol by pro-Israel groups and, of course, accused of ‘antisemitism.’ In the media, the loveable, avuncular Jimmy Carter quickly became a hate figure.
In 2020, the then Trump administration cobbled together a ‘deal’ known as the Abraham Accords that paid off despotic Arab regimes like the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and basket case Sudan to make nice to Israel. It was a sleazy compact worthy of New York real estate promoters or gang chiefs. All the members, Sudan excepted, were scared to death of Iran. Morocco’s king was given a US imprimatur for his illegal annexation of Western Sahara.
Syria would not join this sell-out and was marked for regime change. Israel said all was ok until the mass eruption in Gaza began. Of all the Arab states, only dirt-poor Yemen acted to show support for the besieged Palestinians in Gaza.
In Washington, an addlepated President Biden let Israel and its American neocon fifth column take over his government and lay waste to Gaza. Many longed for the days of honest Jimmy Carter.
Copyright Eric S. Margolis 2025