ANOTHER PROFESSOR CUTS TIES WITH CARTER CENTER, RIPS BOOK

Carter book prompts another resignation (CAMERA)
Melvin Konner, M.D., Ph.D., a professor at Emory University, is the second scholar to cut ties with the Carter Center because of Jimmy Carter's book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.

In a mid-December letter to Carter Center Executive Director John Hardman, Konner explained why he chose to decline a position on the Carter Center's advisory panel.

I am sorry to say that after careful and frankly painful reflection, I have decided not to participate in your group advising President Carter and The Carter Center regarding his recent book on the Middle East conflict... I spoke from my heart when I agreed to participate; it is not easy for me to lose one of my greatest heroes. In less than a week since then, events have progressed in such a way as to persuade me that I cannot in good conscience participate in such an effort.

First, President Carter has proved capable of distorting the truth about such meetings and consultations in public remarks following them...

Second, in television interviews I have seen over the past week, President Carter has revealed himself to be so rigid and inflexible in his views that he seems to me no longer capable of dialogue...

Third, I am now carefully rereading parts of this very puzzling and problematic book... I will call your attention to a sentence on p. 213 that had not stood out for me the first time I read it: "It is imperative that the general Arab community and all
significant Palestinian groups make it clear that they will end the suicide bombings and other acts of terrorism when international laws and the ultimate goals of the Roadmap for Peace are accepted by Israel."

As someone who has lived his life as a professional reader and writer, I cannot find any way to read this sentence that does not condone the murder of Jews until such time as Israel unilaterally follows President Carter's prescription for peace. This sentence, simply put, makes President Carter an apologist for terrorists and places my children, along with all Jews everywhere, in greater danger. I am sure you will now understand why I cannot participate in your group advising President Carter.