The Blood of Abraham: Insights into the Middle East
By Jimmy Carter
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About this ebook
Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter was the thirty-ninth President of the United States, serving from 1977 to 1981. In 1982, he and his wife founded The Carter Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of people around the world. Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. He is the author of thirty books, including A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety; A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power; An Hour Before Daylight: Memoirs of a Rural Boyhood; and Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis.
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Reviews for The Blood of Abraham
15 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Jimmy Carter was "not perfect." Political success says little about a man. But he is man with a profound spirituality and vivid altruism, and has had first hand experience of dealing with world leaders, corporate lobby, backstabbing political ecosystems, having been part of one himself as a US president.
A voice crying in the wilderness? I don't believe so, no... rather a voice crying in our plenty-ness, to hearts often mislead into a wilderness by self-seeking ruthless special interests.
Book preview
The Blood of Abraham - Jimmy Carter
THE BLOOD OF ABRAHAM
INSIGHTS INTO THE MIDDLE EAST
THIRD EDITION
JIMMY CARTER
THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS PRESS
FAYETTEVILLE
2007
Copyright 1985, 1986, 1988, 1993, 2007 by Jimmy Carter
Reprinted by arrangement with Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston
The University of Arkansas Press paperback edition published 1993
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
978-1-55728-862-2 (paper)
978-1-61075-075-2 (electronic)
23 22 21 20 19 5 4 3 2
Designed by John Coghlan and Gail Carter
The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:
Carter, Jimmy, 1924–
The blood of Abraham / Jimmy Carter. — New ed.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 1-55728-293-5 (paper)
1. Jewish-Arab relations—1949– I. Title.
DS119.7.C358 1993
954.04—dc20
93-25863
CIP
For Joshua
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My partner in writing this book has been Kenneth Stein, associate professor of Near Eastern history at Emory University. In the spring of 1983, Ken joined my wife, Rosalynn, and me in an extensive journey to Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, and Morocco, during which we interviewed many of the statesmen, scholars, and others who contributed greatly to our more current information about the region. He then helped arrange the first consultation at the new Carter Center of Emory University. It was held in November of that same year and was devoted to a definitive analysis of the political, social, and military situation in the Middle East.
Working with President Gerald Ford, my co-chairman in the consultation, Dr. Stein and I identified those persons from each country and from the Palestinian community who could describe most forcefully and accurately the widely varying perspectives on the Middle East. During the private and public sessions in Atlanta, we were able to let the many points of view be expressed without restraint, to encourage open debate and cross-examination, and to prevent any personal vituperation or angry walkouts among the participants.
In early 1984, Ken became director of The Carter Center, and he has devoted his energies and driving commitment to make it an academic focus for research, teaching, and public education. Throughout the writing of this volume, I have sought Ken’s advice and he has been generous with his contributions. He provided me with new material as the manuscript evolved and read the various drafts with a careful historian’s eye, for which I am most grateful.
My wife, Rosalynn, shared with me the four years in the White House, the thirteen days at Camp David with Begin and Sadat, and all my journeys to visit the people of the Middle East. It would be impossible to acknowledge adequately her support and valuable perceptions all along the way.
I am grateful to Nan A. Talese at Houghton Mifflin, who helped me take what was just an outline of recent events and expand it into a more complete story of the Middle East—from its ancient past into the uncertain years ahead. She forced me to spend many additional hours of study and research in order to answer her penetrating questions.
William Brink, an editor who worked for ten years each with United Press, Newsweek, and the New York Daily News, spent a week with me in Plains going over every chapter with his fine editorial pencil and exacting from me additional personal insights. He helped to clarify many of the most confusing questions.
Professor Nadav Safran of Harvard University, a noted author and historian, read the manuscript and offered many suggestions that improved the accuracy and clarity of the text.
My research assistant, Steven Hochman, gave the manuscript its final reading in order to mimimize errors, contradictions, imprecisions, and redundancy.
I might add that some repetition is deliberate in order to indicate how the same event seldom has the same impact on the many people who are affected by it. The most unremitting conflicts of the Middle East are not on the battlefields but in the minds of the people who live there. Bred in the most ancient of times, these differences of conviction continue to cause bloodshed even among those who share one fundamental thing: a dream of peace and justice.
CONTENTS
CHRONOLOGY
MAPS
The Middle East, 1984
The Journey of Abraham
U.N. Palestine Partition Plan, 1947
Israel, 1949–1967
Israel and Occupied Territory since June 1967
INTRODUCTION
ISRAEL
SYRIA
LEBANON
THE PALESTINIANS
JORDAN
EGYPT
SAUDI ARABIA
THE FUTURE
AFTERWORD
APPENDICES
1. U.N. Resolution 242, November 1967
2. U.N. Resolution 338, October 1973
3. The U.S.-Soviet Communiqué, October 1977
4. The Camp David Accords, September 1978
5. Speech by President Ronald Reagan, September 1982
6. Statement of Arab Leaders at Fez, Morocco, September 1982
INDEX
CHRONOLOGY
Events in the Middle East can best be understood if the history of the region is reviewed. Listed below are a few of the important events that have led up to the existing state of affairs.