Human Rights, Peace and the Middle East

Below is an excerpt from "On Faith," an Internet feature sponsored by The Washington Post and Newsweek. Each week, more than 50 figures from the world of faith engage in a conversation about some aspect of religion.

Our life's priorities are affected by our personal experiences. I grew up as a farm boy in the segregated South, and all my early playmates and friends were black. Of the five adults who shaped my life, other than my parents, only two of them were white. My future political commitments were shaped by my aversion to the official discrimination that I condoned in my youth, and my inaugural message as governor was "the time for racial discrimination is over." Six years later, I announced that human rights would be the foundation of our nation's foreign policy. For a quarter-century, the Carter Center has promoted programs that fall under the broad umbrella of peace and human rights. I see these as compatible with my Christian faith.

The current debate about the Middle East has deep religious overtones and encompasses both issues. The inability of Israel and its neighbors to live in peace has an adverse effect on an entire region and provokes anger and hatred throughout the world. In 1973, strife in the Holy Land even provoked a nuclear confrontation between the superpowers. At the same time, the plight of the Palestinian people represents one of the most abhorrent cases of human rights oppression on Earth. Forced from their homes and land and surrounded by walls, they live under a system of mandatory segregation, with passes required to reach their jobs, schools, pastures and fields. A unique system of military justice deprives them of any legal ability to alleviate their suffering.

-- Former president Jimmy Carter

To see more "On Faith" online commentary, hosted by Jon Mecham and Sally Quinn, go tohttp://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith.