Upcoming Event

October 24, 2004

        "What If the Two-State Solution is Dead? Thoughts About the Future of Israel/Palestine"

         by Prof. Jeff Halper, Professor of Anthropology

Jeff Halper is also the Coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), a coalition of Israeli peace and human rights groups dedicated to resisting and ending the Israeli Occupation.  Brought up in Minnesota, he has lived in Israel for more than 30 years.  For a decade Jeff worked as a community worker for the Jerusalem municipality among the poor Jewish populations of the city.  He also served as the Chairman of the Israeli Association for Ethiopian Jews.  He has taught both at Israeli universities and abroad, and has served as the President of Friends World College, a international university program.  Jeff has written extensively on Israeli society, culture and history.  He is the author of Between Redemption and Revival: The Jewish Community of Jerusalem in the Nineteenth Century (Westview, 1991).  Jeff has headed the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions for the past seven years.

Synopsis of Presentation: One cannot understand the complications of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict without understanding Israel’s policy of “creating facts on the ground” in the Palestinian areas of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza.  The only hope for peace has long been thought to be the “two-state solution,” the establishment of a viable Palestinian state alongside Israel on the territories occupied in 1967.  That option appears to be dead, a casualty of Israel’s aggressive settlement program.  If that is the case, what does that mean for peace in the Middle East? And how might that impact on the US? Prof. Halper, the head of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, brought to the discussion an intimate knowledge of what is happening “on the ground,” a little-known but key component in the Middle East conflict.  His presentation was accompanied by maps and photos. We had some time for questions, comments and discussion. 

In essence, Professor Halper's take on the situation is that Israel's goal in the middle east is the creation of a Jewish state that includes as much of the land as possible from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River.  This state can not include citizenship for the Palestinians because Israel would then cease to be a Jewish state.  To this end, Israel's actions are dividing the Palestinian areas into many islands with only Israeli controlled access to one another.  This process is being cemented slowly by the construction of walls from 23 to 36 feet high and by deadly electric fences.  The result is that the Palestinians have no infrastructure to enable their survival as a people.  Given this reality, Palestinians will have no option but respond with revolutionary vigor.

In addition, because Israel is by far the stronger of the two groups, it can not say that they are acting from a defensive posture.  Therefore, whatever Israel does comes from a position of proactive strength.  Israel is the one in control.  As a result, the solution will have to be executed by them.

References and Resources:
Jeff Halper, Between Redemption and Revival: The Jewish Community of Jerusalem in the Nineteenth Century (Westview, 1991)
Norman Finkelstein, Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict
Avi Shlaim, The Iron Wall
ICAHD website address is http://www.icahd.org.