The Blood of Abraham

A must for understanding the middle east. Everything Jimmy Carter said in 1983 is still true today... "only more so." A perfect blend of ancient and modern histories. His personal experience makes it come alive. I couldn't believe how clear it was. Very understandable.

Jimmy Carter begins his demystification of the political, religious, and ethnic turmoil in the Middle East with a comprehensive chronology of the history of the region, dating from circa 9000 BC to the publication date of the book (1985). His introduction elaborates on the historical timeline and then branches out into his main thesis, a concise and personal explanation of the interrelational conflict between the countries of the Middle East, including Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine. The consummate southern gentleman, Carter recounts his experiences with the kind of well-mannered, even-tempered prose to which Americans have become accustomed. The author deconstructs the complex issues of the Middle East with an open-minded, balanced approach in which he portrays each country's paradigm as legitimate. Not only does Carter give validity to each country's concerns, he also believes that each religious affiliation -- Christianity, Judaism, and Islam -- have legitimate claims in the various conflicts brewing in the Holy Land. Former President Carter is one of the very few American statesmen whose words are taken in an unbiased manner by Jews, Muslims, and Christians alike, both in the Middle East and here at home. Perhaps this is why Carter was able to negotiate an Egyptian-Israeli peace deal between Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin. This moderate, cooperative persona of Carter can be seen patently throughout The Blood of Abraham. Carter is known for having the tendency to be overly idealistic at times, but I found his approach in his book to be quite honest and forthcoming. Carter is not out to avoid hurting peoples' feelings, but does temper his criticisms by giving the benefit of the doubt to each sides ability to eventually reach a compromise. This is illustrated on page 47 of The Blood of Abraham where he calls the Israeli mindset intransigent, but then later in the same paragraph discusses how he believes most Israelis do long for a plurality that will be accommodating to both sides. Carter even hints that he believes the Israeli government relies far to casually on excessive military might which exacerbates the conflict. He also gently talks about how Israel's racist minority - or perhaps majority - must avoid treating the Palestinians as second-class citizens without rights. To Jimmy Carter, the most attractive option is granting autonomy and the right of self-determination to the Palestinians within most of the West Bank and Gaza areas, provided substantial demilitarization of the area occurs and there are adequate guarantees that Israel and Jordan's security will not be threatened. Other neighboring countries viewpoints of the situation are also discussed. The general theme that Carter portrays of the near Arab countries is that Israel creates illogical reasons to expand it's scope of power. He believes local Arab countries have the viewpoint that Israel is a domineering country that continues to occupy new lands and sends exces

This book gives good insights and makes you under stand the middle east where the countries in the middle east are coming from. He examens Israel, Syria, Lebanon, The Palestinians, Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia and tell what there interests are. If you want to understand the Middle East better or are just interested in polotics, or history I would Highly reommend this book.

In this book, President Carter shares his experiences in dealing with Middle Eastern leaders as they attempted to create peace throughout the region. President Carter uses religious history to bring coherent insight to the reader about this conflict and proposed resolutions. Through his descriptions of the heads of state at the Camp David Summit, President Carter exposes each leader's humanity (including his own)giving the reader further understanding of this situation and politics overall. As one interested in what happens behind the scenes, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and give it thumbs up to like-minded readers.