WALTHAM, Mass. — President Carter acknowledged at a historically Jewish college that his new book on the Middle East has “caused great concern in the Jewish community,” but he noted that it has prompted discussion nonetheless.

The uproar over “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid” has been going on for several months and recently prompted 14 members of an advisory board at Mr. Carter’s international-affairs think tank, the Carter Center, to resign in protest.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner gave a brief address to Brandeis University students and faculty, and he later responded to 15 questions selected in advance.

“With my use of ‘apartheid,’ I realize this has caused great concern in the Jewish community. The title makes it clear,” Mr. Carter said.

“I can certainly see now it would provoke some harsh feelings. I chose that title knowing that it would be provocative, but in the long run, it has precipitated discussion, and there has been a lot of positive discussion.”

He said the book is about conditions in Palestinian Arab territories, not Israel, and urged his audience to visit occupied areas to see for themselves.

Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz had also hoped to debate Mr. Carter but was told he would not be allowed inside.

About 60 peaceful demonstrators gathered. Many carried signs with a pro-Palestinian Arab view. Among them: “Closing our eyes to injustice is not a Jewish value” and “Support Jimmy Carter. End the occupation now.”

Brandeis, in the Boston suburb of Waltham, is a secular university founded by American Jewish leaders, and about half of its 5,300 students are Jewish. The school is named after Louis Brandeis, the first Jewish member of the U.S. Supreme Court and a robust defender of the right to free speech.

Mr. Carter “thinks it is important to present his ideas directly to audiences that can be influential today and in the future in finding permanent solutions to bring peace and security to Israel — and peace and justice to the Palestinians,” Carter spokeswoman Deanna Congileo said.

The university originally invited Mr. Carter on the condition that he debate Mr. Dershowitz, a critic of the book. But Mr. Carter said he would only visit the campus without conditions. He later accepted an invitation from a committee of students and faculty to speak without taking part in a debate.

Mr. Carter’s book has been criticized by some Jewish leaders as riddled with inaccuracies and distortions. Some have complained that it appears to equate South Africa’s former apartheid system of racial segregation with Israeli treatment of the Palestinian Arabs.

Mr. Carter, who brokered the 1978 Camp David peace accord between Israel and Egypt and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, said his use of “apartheid” did not apply to circumstances within Israel.

Critics were particularly frustrated that Mr. Dershowitz was not allowed to debate Mr. Carter.