Jimmy Carter steps into the Hollywood spotlight
September 11, 2007
Former US president Jimmy Carter joined the ranks of movie
stars like Brad Pitt and George Clooney at the world
premiere of "Man from Plains," the biopic about his life, which
premiered Monday at the Toronto film festival.
The documentary by Academy Award-winning director
Jonathan Demme ("The Silence of the Lambs" and
"Philadelphia") follows Carter on a promotional tour eight
months ago for his controversial book "Palestine Peace, not
Apartheid."
It also touches on his life since his one-term presidency
(1977-1981).
While thousands of Clooney and Pitt fans crushed barricades
around their hotel, a smaller, but duly awestruck group
gathered outside a local cinema hoping for the 39th US
president and Nobel peace prize winner's autograph.
Taking part in the film festival's first geo-political talk, taped
for television, Carter called for Washington to hold "direct
talks" with Iran, laid out his vision for Mideast peace and
lamented the "unwarranted and unprecedented" religious
fundamentalism that has crept into US politics.
In a stinging attack on US President George W. Bush and his
Christian supporters, he said: "I worship Christ who was
the prince of peace, not pre-emptive war."
"A superpower like the United States should use all of its
resources ... to promote peace," he said.
Talking about his book, Carter said: "I hope it will precipitate
attempting to find peace in the Holy Land."
"It's one of the most important political issues in the world,
because a lot of the animosity (in the world) is centered
around what's happening to bring peace or not bring peace
in (Israel-Palestine)."
"There hasn't been one single day of peace talks in the last
seven years," he complained.
"I became very frustrated to see the stagnation there and
the animosity building up around the world against my own
nation just because we had not tried to bring peace to
Israel and its (surrounding) states," he said, explaining his
inspiration for the book.
Carter noted that he and his wife Rosalynn had visited the
Palestinian territories on three occasions in recent years.
"I was amazed and almost nauseated to see the
encroachment by Israel on Palestinian land and the
persecution of the Palestinians," he said, citing 205 fortified
Jewish settlements in "choice places" in the West Bank.
Rosalynn commented that the wall built by Israel to separate
the two sides, but condemned internationally, was
"shocking."
"I would like to see good faith talks begin between the
Israelis and Palestinians to bring peace and justice (for
both)," said Carter, who spearheaded the first Mideast
peace talks at Camp David in 1978.
>From September 5 to 17, 1978, Egyptian president
Muhammad Anwar al-Sadat and Menachem Begin, prime
minister of Israel, met with Carter at Camp David and agreed
on a framework for peace in the Middle East.
They invited other parties to the Arab-Israel conflict to
adhere to it. But peace remains elusive.
Why has that early success never been repeated?
"In the first place, Washington (lately) hasn't tried," said
Carter. "And the entire world now feels that America has let
the Palestinians down."
Former US President Bill Clinton tried in the dying days of his
presidency in 2000, but failed to secure a peace pact. Most
blamed Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat for holding
out for a better deal.
President Bush has planned talks in November, but 42
percent of Palestinians who support Hamas will not be
represented, Carter said.
Still, "I think there's a good prospect of finding peace in the
future," he said optimistically.
The key to breaking the deadlock is "swapping land for
peace," based on the 2003 Geneva Accord, he said.
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