Letters to the Editor
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‘The World According to Carter’
Alan Dershowitz’s piece, “The World According to Carter,” was disturbing [Arts & Letters, November 22, 2006]. Professor Dershowitz makes a compelling case by exposing the one-sided arguments presented by former President Carter. It is sad that a former president closely identified with his religious beliefs fails to see the refusal of the Arabs and the Palestinians to accept Israel. President Carter exhibited courage and moral force by creating the President’s Commission on the Holocaust and the first U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council. I served on both panels as the youngest member and only child of a survivor. We must remember that the Holocaust was a basis for the creation of Israel and any threats to its security are a signal for greater vigilance. We don’t need former presidents becoming forgetful.
STEVEN LUDSIN
East Hampton, N.Y.
Alan Dershowitz is to be commended for his excellent essay surveying the numerous mistakes and omissions in President Carter’s new book “Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid” [Arts & Letters, “The World According to Carter,” November 22, 2006]. One glaring anachronism quoted, but not directly addressed, by Professor Dershowitz is President Carter’s statement that “Muslim Arabs” have lived in what is today the state of Israel “since Roman times.” Quite a feat, I’d say, since there were no Muslim Arabs living in “Roman times” — the empire fell in the fifth century of the common era, while the founder of Islam only began the public proclamation of his faith in the seventh century.
DAVID KOERNER
Brooklyn, N.Y.
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