Jimmy Carter

To be honest I do not enjoy reading about the Middle East in any way, shape, or form. Yet, I did not mind Jimmy Carter’s Palestine Peace Not Apartheid. In a way it read as though President Jimmy Carter was present and was speaking to me. The timeline was not very interesting because I had no prior knowledge of the specific dates that were listed. Besides that part of the reading the rest of the chapters actually kept my interest. Carter describes how he met with many people from either Israel or Palestine. I know it’s not just me but it would be difficult to open your door and invite a foreigner especially one from the Middle East into your home. Jimmy Carter, who was the President at the time, graciously invited these people into his home (the white house). He ate and discussed certain issues with these people from the Middle East. The book also explains some of President Carter’s and his wife’s journeys throughout the Middle East. Their was one example where the First Lady at the time went to a hospital and they were not allow to use the ambulances because of the strict rules that were being enforced. I am extremely thankful that I live in America. We have all the freedom that the Middle East does not. I know it goes along with the song, but I’m proud to be an American where at least I know I’m free. After reading all of the required chapters, I learned that the Israelis basically isolated Palestine. The maps in some of the chapters helped me to visually understand what I was reading about. Overall, not a horrible read but I wouldn’t go as far as to refer to it as a New York Times bestseller.