Jimmy Carter steps into the Hollywood spotlight
4 hours ago
TORONTO (AFP) — Former US president Jimmy Carter joined the ranks of movie stars like Brad Pitt and George Clooney at the world premiere of "Man from Plains," the biopic about his life, which premiered Monday at the Toronto film festival.
The documentary by Academy Award-winning director Jonathan Demme ("The Silence of the Lambs" and "Philadelphia") follows Carter on a promotional tour eight months ago for his controversial book "Palestine Peace, not Apartheid."
It also touches on his life since his one-term presidency (1977-1981).
While thousands of Clooney and Pitt fans crushed barricades around their hotel, a smaller, but duly awestruck group gathered outside a local cinema hoping for the 39th US president and Nobel peace prize winner's autograph.
Taking part in the film festival's first geo-political talk, taped for television, Carter called for Washington to hold "direct talks" with Iran, laid out his vision for Mideast peace and lamented the "unwarranted and unprecedented" religious fundamentalism that has crept into US politics.
In a stinging attack on US President George W. Bush and his Christian supporters, he said: "I worship Christ who was the prince of peace, not pre-emptive war."
"A superpower like the United States should use all of its resources ... to promote peace," he said.
Talking about his book, Carter said: "I hope it will precipitate attempting to find peace in the Holy Land."
"It's one of the most important political issues in the world, because a lot of the animosity (in the world) is centered around what's happening to bring peace or not bring peace in (Israel-Palestine)."
"There hasn't been one single day of peace talks in the last seven years," he complained.
"I became very frustrated to see the stagnation there and the animosity building up around the world against my own nation just because we had not tried to bring peace to Israel and its (surrounding) states," he said, explaining his inspiration for the book.
Carter noted that he and his wife Rosalynn had visited the Palestinian territories on three occasions in recent years.
"I was amazed and almost nauseated to see the encroachment by Israel on Palestinian land and the persecution of the Palestinians," he said, citing 205 fortified Jewish settlements in "choice places" in the West Bank.
Rosalynn commented that the wall built by Israel to separate the two sides, but condemned internationally, was "shocking."
"I would like to see good faith talks begin between the Israelis and Palestinians to bring peace and justice (for both)," said Carter, who spearheaded the first Mideast peace talks at Camp David in 1978.
From September 5 to 17, 1978, Egyptian president Muhammad Anwar al-Sadat and Menachem Begin, prime minister of Israel, met with Carter at Camp David and agreed on a framework for peace in the Middle East.
They invited other parties to the Arab-Israel conflict to adhere to it. But peace remains elusive.
Why has that early success never been repeated?
"In the first place, Washington (lately) hasn't tried," said Carter. "And the entire world now feels that America has let the Palestinians down."
Former US President Bill Clinton tried in the dying days of his presidency in 2000, but failed to secure a peace pact. Most blamed Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat for holding out for a better deal.
President Bush has planned talks in November, but 42 percent of Palestinians who support Hamas will not be represented, Carter said.
Still, "I think there's a good prospect of finding peace in the future," he said optimistically.
The key to breaking the deadlock is "swapping land for peace," based on the 2003 Geneva Accord, he said.
