Jimmy Carter writes new book on Middle East

[December 04, 2008]  ATLANTA, Ga. (AP) -- Former President Jimmy Carter has written a new book on the Middle East with a title he hopes will not be as controversial as the last one, which was called, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid."

Carter said Wednesday night that "We Can Bring Peace to the Holy Land" will be published in January, just after the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama.

"I was going to call it, 'Yes, We Can.' My wife talked me out of it," Carter joked toward the end of a panel discussion on human rights at The Carter Center. He offered no further details on the new text, to be published by Simon & Schuster.

As president, Carter brokered peace between Israel and Egypt. But Jewish groups and some fellow Democrats strongly objected to his book published two years ago because it compared Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories with former racial oppression in South Africa.

During the panel discussion at the conclusion of a two-day forum of international human rights activists, Carter said the "persecution of Palestinians" and lack of U.S. commitment to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict remains one of the most volatile issues in the Muslim world.

He said when he took office in 1977, there had been four wars and Arab oil embargoes, and he saw a need to begin tackling Middle East peace in the first year of his administration. Those efforts led to the 1979 Camp David Accords.

"We've had very few efforts since then to bring about a comprehensive peace," Carter said.

Carter, 84, has been a prolific author since leaving the White House, in 1981. His many best-sellers include "An Hour Before Daylight" and "Our Endangered Values."

[Associated Press; By WALTER PUTNAM]

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