There\u2019s an online petition to get Amazon to change how it has listed Jimmy Carter\u2019s controversial book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n The petition (\"Tell Amazon to Treat Carter\u2019s Book Fairly\"<\/a>) points out that Amazon has taken the highly unsual step of prominently featuring an exceedingly partisan and hostile review of the book by Jeffrey Goldberg originally published in The Washington Post the \"Editorial Reviews\" section normally dedicated to excerpts from the book\u2019s blurb or short and generally favorable reviews.\u00a0 What\u2019s more, Amazon has reproduced the 20-paragraph, 1,636-word jeremiad in its entirety<\/em>.\u00a0 \u00a0Yes, they re-published a lengthy article in the middle of a product listing in a catalog.\u00a0 In short, they\u2019re doing all they can to kill it.<\/p>\n Goldberg\u2019s scathing \"review\" is admittedly preceded by a mildly positive review from Publishers Weekly<\/em>, but this additional review is very brief (198 words, or 1\/8 the length of the Washington Post tirade) and quite ambivalent.\u00a0 Before concluding Carter\u2019s book to be a \"fine overview for those unfamiliar with the history of the conflict\", this tepid endorsement\u00a0 implicitly\u00a0 accuses Carter of\u00a0 being a shill for the Arabs (emphasis added):<\/p>\n Throughout his work, Carter assigns ultimate blame to Israel, arguing that the country\u2019s leadership has routinely undermined the peace process through its obstinate, aggressive and illegal occupation of territories seized in 1967. He\u2019s decidedly less critical of Arab leaders<\/strong>, accepting their concern for the Palestinian cause at face value<\/strong>, and including their anti-Israel rhetoric<\/strong> as a matter of course, without much in the way of counter-argument.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n How often have you seen Israel\u2019s many advocates in the MSM subjected to an equally uncharitable reading of their motives?<\/p>\n So, one long review goes for the jugular and the other gives it a lukewarm endorsement while subliminally implying Carter to be biased.\u00a0 So much for debate. <\/p>\n Compare Carter\u2019s rough, openly partisan treatment at the hands of Amazon to their studiously neutral presentation of all sorts of anti-Arab or anti-Muslim works, including ones that, unlike Carter\u2019s book, have been widely viewed for years as politically motivated pseudo-scholarship. <\/p>\n For example, Amazon uncritically promotes Joan Peters\u2019 From Time Immemorial<\/em><\/a> though it is a highly controversial and by most accounts (e.g., Israeli historian of Palestinian nationalism Yehoshua Porath<\/a>) definitively discredited work of anti-Arab propaganda.\u00a0 This is a work comparable in the offense and controversy it raises to The Bell Curve and which even Daniel Pipes\u2013one of its few defenders in academia\u2013must concede <\/a>\"stands out as an appallingly crafted book\", yet Amazon features these Pravda-esque excerpts on it:<\/p>\n Barbara Tuchman Washington Post Book World Hmm\u2026<\/p>\n Then there\u2019s Amazon\u2019s sympathetic presentation of Alan Dershowitz\u2019s controversial The Case for Israel<\/em><\/a>. It has been the object of intense debate in the media, not only on its scholarly merits but even whether it engages in systematic plagiarism (see this <\/a>and this<\/a>).\u00a0 Here\u2019s what Amazon says in the corresponding section:<\/p>\n From Publishers Weekly From Booklist No hint of controversy, much less a long, detailed rebuttal by one of Dershowitz\u2019 critics.\u00a0 <\/p>\n And one could go on and on.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure there are many far more damning examples.<\/p>\n Look up the most offensive, polemical and unscholarly screeds against Muslims, Arabs, and Islam in Amazon and you won\u2019t see even the faintest acknowledgement in its summary of of the work\u2019s flaws or detractors, but a book by a former US President, international stateman, and architect of the Camp David peace accords<\/strong> between Israel and Egypt\u2013stop and think about that for a moment\u2013that openly discusses grievances against Israel is subjected to this kind of shameless partisanship and character assasination.\u00a0 It\u2019s mindblowing.\u00a0 And incredibly disheartening.<\/p>\n\n
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\"This book is a historical event in itself\u2026\"<\/em><\/p>\n
\"A remarkable document in itself. . . . The refugees are not the problem but the excuse.\"<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
Noting that he has been working on versions of these arguments since 1967, famed Harvard law professor Dershowitz offers \"a proactive defense of Israel,\" a kind of amicus brief to \"the court of public opinion.\" Not least among the exhibits are a WWII-era Muslim Palestinian leader who was \"a full fledged Nazi war criminal, and he was so declared at Nuremberg\"; a \"vastly underpopulated\" late 19th-century Palestine, to which European Jews began emigrating; and a 75-year-long Arab-Israeli war that features \"Arab nations dedicated to genocidal aggression against civilians.\" Each of the 32 chapters begins with a commonly heard accusation against Israel, with long quotes from reputable \"Accusers\" (including newspapers and intellectuals), followed by \"The Reality\" as Dershowitz sees it, and \"The Proof,\" often drawing on the historical record.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. \u2013This text refers to the Hardcover edition.<\/em><\/p>\n
Dershowitz is one of the nation\u2019s most prominent and visible defense attorneys, and he is also an ardent, eloquent, but not always uncritical defender of Israel. This book is written in the form of a legal brief. He does not seek to defend particular policies of the current Israeli government. In fact, Dershowitz has frequently criticized some Israeli policies toward Palestinians, particularly regarding West Bank settlements. Rather, here he attempts to rebut what he views as the more general and blatantly discriminatory criticisms of Israel as a state and culture. Some of these criticisms deny the \"right\" of Israel to exist. In response, Dershowitz asserts both the practical and moral justification for the continued existence of Israel as Jewish state. He also convincingly refutes several other oft-repeated myths, including the supposedly benign treatment of Jews in Arab lands and the \"cycle of violence\" canard that morally equates Palestinian suicide bombings with Israeli efforts to arrest or kill bombers before they act. As usual, Dershowitz is a passionate but generally fair and honest advocate for his position. Jay Freeman<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n