On Dec. 7, 2006, CNN journalist Glenn Beck savaged President Jimmy Carter’s important new book, Palestine Peace Not Apartheid, despite clearly not having given it a close read. In the course of his diatribe he referred to President Carter as a “fathead.” Time was that an employee would be fired on the spot for such a transgression. Had my mother or father run CNN and been listening I am quite certain that Beck would have been pulled from the set and a sincere apology offered to viewers within minutes. Clearly, no real standards exist at CNN. Read more about Vile Jibes At President Carter Ignored By Media 

President Jimmy Carter’s courageous new book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, is due on bookstore shelves tomorrow November 14, 2006. In it, Carter reportedly states, “Israel’s continued control and colonization of Palestinian land have been the primary obstacles to a comprehensive peace agreement.” As a result of such excerpts - and the title itself - Democrats in the U.S. Congress made significant efforts in October to distance themselves from their former leader who nevertheless maintains his standing as the conscience of the party. Read more about Democrats Ignore Subjugation of Palestinians in Vilifying Carter's Book 

The population of Palestinians living in Israel, the Occupied Gaza Strip, Occupied East Jerusalem and rest of the Occupied West Bank combined now exceeds the number of Israeli Jews, a U.S. government report has revealed. The Palestinian population stands at more than 5.3 million while the Jewish population stands at 5.2 million. The figures come from the U.S. State Department’s annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2004. The report provided population figures for each of these territorial units separately but failed to connect all the dots to arrive at the explosive new demographic reality. Read more about EI EXCLUSIVE: Palestinian population exceeds Jewish population says U.S. government 

The American news media have been largely eyeless in Gaza (save for Molly Moore did write a moving though haunting piece about Rafah for the Washington Post of May 16). According to UNRWA 1,100 Palestinians were made homeless in the first 10 days of May. Has that appeared in your local newspaper? Can you imagine the hue and cry if Palestinians somehow had the capacity to force 1,100 Israelis out of their homes in Ashkelon just a touch north of Gaza? The story would lead the newspapers — as it should — even if Palestinians said they were simply moving back to the land they were pushed out of more than 50 years ago. The point to make to the newspapers, and to CNN, is that both Israeli and Palestinian suffering should be covered. All too often, Palestinian casualties are ignored or downplayed. Read more about Speak out now for Rafah 

In an article about Israel’s importing immigrants from India into an illegal Israeli settlement in the West Bank, the New York Times’ Greg Myre, writes “Amishav, the group that champions the Bnei Menashe, wants to bring all 6,000 of them to Israel.” While the article is clear that the new settlers are being located on Palestinian land, the term “Israel” is clearly inappropriately used in editorial comment. Partners for Peace’s Michael Brown comments on this in a letter to the NYT, and makes the point that “bumping desperate people up against one another like this is the height of irresponsibility.” Read more about Response to NYT: 'Lost Tribe' Finds Itself on Front Lines of Mideast Conflict"