Jimmy Carter on Gaza

Not so fast, Goldblog readers tell me, on accepting Jimmy Carter's mea culpa. They point to an op-ed in the Guardian the ex-president published just a few days ago that is filled with the same sort of one-sided invective we've come to expect:

I have discussed ways to assist the citizens of Gaza with a number of Arab and European leaders and their common response is that the Israeli blockade makes any assistance impossible. Donors point out that they have provided enormous aid funds to build schools, hospitals and factories, only to see them destroyed in a few hours by precision bombs and missiles. Without international guarantees, why risk similar losses in the future?

Egypt's border with Gaza, of course, does not exist on Carter's map. And yes, it's a well-known fact that Israel, completely unprovoked, decided to fire missiles into school buildings graciously provided to Gaza by the international community. Israel unilaterally withdrew its soldiers and settlers from Gaza in 2005 not because it wanted to create conditions for the emergence of a Palestinian state, but because it didn't want to hurt any Jews when it eventually fired its missiles at school buildings and mosques.

Gaza is complicated; Israel has committed sins, the Palestinians have committed sins. But Jimmy Carter's mind reels at the complexity.