I'm signature 3792.
Here's my comment in addition to the form letter:
As a third generation American Jew, whose father helped smuggle
weapons to Irgun after the WWII, who worked for MilInt, and then as
regional coordinator in the SE United States for the ADL, and who now
finds himself broken-hearted, at an age past 80, by the the long term
effects of the suppression of the Palestinian people and the mayhem it
has brought to the rest of the Middle East as well, I humbly ask you
to mind Former President Carter, invoking in the name of humanity,
something AIPAC and the rest of the warhawks who have NOTHING IN
COMMON WITH A JEWISH RELIGION OF PEACE, conviently seek to ignore, or
in this case attempt to suppress, the cultural genocide of the
Palestinian people.
Let's start with a simple fact, and the fact is, quite simply, AIPAC
and their friends do not represent Jews, they represent the state of
Israel. Just recently, Larry Franklin from the White House's stable of
propagandists was exposed as an unregistered agent of a foreign
government. Do not lend these people credibility.
On 1/15/07, Jim Devine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
In the Juan Cole post I just forwarded, there's a reference to
Amazon.com. Here's the letter that you see if you click the link:
To: Jeff Bezos, CEO, Amazon.com
As longtime Amazon customers, we are deeply disturbed by your
treatment of Jimmy Carter's important new book, Palestine: Peace Not
Apartheid.
Under the "Editorial Reviews" heading – a space normally used either
for the publisher's own description of a book, or for short,
even-handed summaries from listing services such as Booklist and
Publishers Weekly – you insist on running the complete, 20-paragraph,
1,636-word text of a review unabashedly hostile to Carter's viewpoint.
You have refused to add information shoppers should have in evaluating
this review: the fact that the reviewer, Jeffrey Goldberg, is a
citizen of Israel as well as the United States, and that he
volunteered to serve in the Israeli Defense Forces, for which he
worked as a guard at a prison for Palestinian detainees. And you have
refused to balance his negative review by giving comparable space to a
favorable assessment of the book, even though positive reviews by
qualified experts have appeared in many reputable publications.
Because giving so much space in this location to such a negative
review is so unusual – if not unprecedented – for Amazon, and because
you have refused requests from many customers that you take a more
balanced approach, we can only conclude that you are deliberately
trying to discourage shoppers from ordering the former President's
book.
This is contrary to Amazon's own interests as a bookseller. More
important, it's also contrary to the interests of understanding,
peace, and justice for all parties to the Israel/Palestine conflict
We are not interested in supporting a corporation that uses its power
in the marketplace in such a biased and unconstructive way on such an
important issue.
Accordingly, if you do not, by Jan. 22, remove the Goldberg review,
move it to the more appropriate "See all Editorial Reviews" page, or
restore a semblance of balance by giving comparable space and
prominence to a more positive evaluation of Palestine: Peace Not
Apartheid, we the undersigned pledge to:
1. Stop shopping at Amazon.com;
2. Completely close our accounts on your service; and
3. Encourage our friends, family, and associates to do likewise.
Sincerely,
[to sign, go to: http://www.petitiononline.com/Amazon07/petition.html]
--
Jim Devine / "Doubt is uncomfortable, but certainty is ridiculous." -- Voltaire.
