News Highlights
Author:
Maha Al-Azar,
Media Relations Officer,
Office of Information and Public Relations,
ma110@aub.edu.lb
 Live recordings of Carter's lecture on AUB server
Video recording of Carter's lecture on YouTube
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Former US President Jimmy Carter lobbies for peace from Issam Fares Hall
 | Carter: American presidents have a lot of influence over Israeli leaders
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Former US President Jimmy Carter told an overflow crowd at Issam Fares Hall on December 12 that President-elect Barack Obama had promised him he would engage in peace talks as soon as he took office.
Carter, however, acknowledged the "tremendous political pressures [that] exist in my nation among political office holders to comply almost without exception to the policies of the Israeli government."
Carter was wrapping up a five-day trip in Lebanon, during which he met with public officials as well as members of various NGOs, in preparation for his plans to monitor the upcoming parliamentary elections, through his Carter Center, should he receive the approval of the Lebanese Cabinet. He was hosted by the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs (IFI), under the Bill and Sally Hambrecht Distinguished Peacemakers Lecture Series, which was established in 2007 with the aim of "bringing prominent international mediators to AUB and Beirut to share their experiences with the AUB community as well as conflict-resolution practitioners and scholars in Lebanon and the Middle East."
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 | Dorman described Carter as 'a man with a unique resume'
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The lecture was titled "30 years after Camp David: A memo to the Arab World, Israel and the Quartet," and was scheduled to start at 6:30 pm, but the hall filled up by 6:15 pm, leaving dozens of attendees in the outside hallways, from where they followed the lecture via loud speakers and a screen. The event was covered by more than 45 local and international news organizations, including Al-Arabiyya, Public Broadcasting Corporation (PBS), RAI TV, the Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France Presse, The Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, The New York Times, The Washington Post, New TV, OTV, Future TV, An-Nahar,and As-Safir. It was also attended by a host of luminaries, including British Ambassador Frances Guy, US Ambassador Michele Sison, Former Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
IFI Director Rami Khouri opened the lecture, saying: "When it comes to distinguished peace makers, they don't come any better than Jimmy Carter."
"Peace is a concept that is not only dear to us as [Arab] citizens, but it is also structurally embedded in our culture and day-to-day speech," he added, noting that Arabs say 'Assalaamu Aleykom,' or 'Peace be with you,' several times a day, when they greet each other.
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 | Khouri: 'Peace...is structurally embedded in our [Arab] culture and day-to-day speech'
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AUB Board of Trustees member Bill Hambrecht, an investment banker who has focused on the technology and biotech sector and an active member of the peace-making Quaker community, was also present at the lecture. "AUB is the most perfect platform for this type of activity," Hambrecht said, during the opening speeches. "The IFI will become a force that will hopefully change the intellectual atmosphere in the whole context of Middle East peace movements."
Hambrecht called Carter his "personal hero," who has contributed tremendously to mankind since he left office in 1981, after one term.
AUB President Peter Dorman introduced Carter to a standing ovation as a "man with a unique resume: a farmer from Georgia, the 39th president of the United States of America, and winner of a Nobel Peace Prize."
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 | Hambrecht: 'IFI...will change the intellectual atmosphere in...Middle East peace movements'
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"In our generation, only Jimmy Carter has pioneered a mission and crafted a legacy that has lasted far beyond the years he actually served in that high office. The universal esteem in which he is held across the globe reflects the depth and consistency of his emphasis on moral values as the foundation for political conduct at home and abroad. He assumed the American presidency over 30 years ago with his hallmark smile and a powerful commitment to human rights as a defining driver of American foreign policy," Dorman said.
"There is inspiring valor in the abiding moral and political leadership that you...provide by the example of the commitments you've made in your life," Dorman added. "Your presence at AUB has deep significance for us, for...AUB has been dedicated to a quest founded on the values you embrace." |
 | Carter was welcomed with a standing ovation...
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"It is a great honor and pleasure to come to this great university about which I've heard all my adult life, as a stable beacon of intellectual achievement, a commitment to the finest aspects of human life and has survived with its integrity intact even during the most difficult challenges," said President Carter.
Carter, who brokered a peace deal between Israel and Egypt at Camp David in 1978, has become a controversial figure lately for his outspoken criticism of Israeli settlement and construction activities in the Palestinian territories. His book, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," sparked protest by supporters of Israel who considered it offensive to compare the policies of the Jewish State to those of white-ruled South Africa up until the 1990s. Camp David, Carter said, succeeded in establishing peace between Egypt and Israel, but provisions within the agreement protecting the basic rights of Palestinians have been largely ignored. |
 | Front row [L-R] Ambassador Sison, President Dorman and his wife, Kathy
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"Almost steadily since that time [1979], Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza have seen their basic human rights lost," he said.
He added that since the Hamas victory in the parliamentary elections held in 2006, "the Israelis have not been willing to negotiate in good faith with the Palestinians."
However, Carter noted that of the 73 elections his Carter Center had monitored, "the most perfect three were the ones conducted by the Palestinians," calling them "open, honest and fair contests," even though their results were aborted by the United States.
Carter also criticized the 700-kilometer separation wall that is being erected by Israel, saying : "When this wall is completed, all of the Palestinians remaining in the portion of the West Bank they still control will be in prison, just like the Palestinians in Gaza. To me this entire process is an international crime that should be condemned and corrected by the international community."
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 | The audience spilled over to the surrounding hallways...
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When asked by Nathalie Allam, the editor of AUB's student newspaper about Barack Obama's speech to AIPAC this summer when he said that Jerusalem is "to remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided," Carter confessed that he was "perhaps the most disturbed American, out of 350 million, when he made his speech to American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the pro-Israeli American lobby." He added that he was so distressed that he called Senator Obama immediately after the speech and was pleased when Obama later appeared to soften his rhetoric in a CNN interview.
Another AUB student also asked Carter about Rahm Emanuel's appointment as President-elect Obama's Chief of Staff, noting Emanuel' pro-Zionist past. While Carter acknowledged that Emanuel, as well as Hillary Clinton, maintains close relations with Israel, he noted that retired General Jim Jones, who will be Obama's national security advisor, will be able to redress this bias, as he has built a relationship of trust among Palestinians while training their security forces. "Jim Jones is thoroughly familiar with the situation in Palestine," Carter said. |
 | Carter hobnobs with faculty and staff at Marquand House...
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Carter said he believed a just settlement between the Palestinians and Israelis would help reduce terrorism. "If the Palestinian issue was resolved peacefully and justly and with human rights, a great deal of the animosity toward my country would be alleviated," he said.
Moreover, he said that his own experience with then-Prime Minister Menachim Begin has led him to believe that an American president has a lot of influence over Israeli leaders. "That holds and it's a great opening," he added, urging Obama to play a "proactive and just" role in solving the Mideast crisis.
Following the lecture, AUB President Peter Dorman and his wife, Kathy, hosted President Carter at a reception at Marquand House. |
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