Nobel Peace Prize nominee discusses Israeli/Palestinian conflict at forum
Jeff Halper’s Nov. 5 forum ‘Destruction and Demolition: Israeli Policies Toward Palestinian Housing’ focused on the destruction of thousands of Palestinian homes by the Israeli government in the disputed West Bank region.
Halper’s forum, addressed to students, faculty, staff and community members, was hosted by the University of South Dakota International Studies Program and the International Studies Club.
According to the ICAHD, more than 27,000 Palestinian homes have been demolished since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories after its 1967 “Six Day War” with neigboring Egypt, Syria and Jordan.
Halper, co-founder of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions and a 2006 Nobel Peace Prize nominee, participated in the civil rights and anti-Vietnam War movements of the 1960s before immigrating from the United States to Israel in 1973 to resist military service in the Vietnam War.
He said Israel is an “apartheid state” which has continously segregated the Israeli-Palestinian population from the Israeli population in the region by denying Palestinian building permits under the pretenses that areas are “agricultural land” or that the demolitions are for “security” purposes.
Halper said his organization has rebuilt more than 187 demolished homes since its founding and showed forum attendees photos of a family who was evicted and whose home had been demolished.
He concluded his speech by saying that for there to be peace in the Middle East, there must first be peace between the Palestinians and Israel.
“The Palestinians, I think, have a key role. They’re the gatekeepers. Everybody in the Middle East is really looking at the Palestinians who are this little people fighting all these forces,” Halper said. “If the Palestinians get into an arrangement with Israel, that they can live with, and the Palestinians say to the rest of the Arab world ‘now is the time to normalize relations with Israel’ — that would remove a tremendous source of tension and tipathy in the region.”
Timothy Shorn, an associate professor of political science, said he was first notified Halper would be in the area by an organization in Sioux Falls and thought it would be a good opportunity to bring someone from Israel to speak to students about the Israeli and Palestinian conflict.
“Given the fact I’m teaching Middle Eastern Politics this semester, it would be a great opportunity for students to hear from somebody who is out of the region and who is intimately familiar with what’s going on on the ground,” Schorn said.
Amanda Schackow, a senior who studied in Jordan over the summer, agreed with Halper’s assessment of the Palestinian and Israeli conflict.
“The conflict is a lot different there than you see it here in the U.S. news. Things that are happening — Palestinian homes getting demolished, they can’t get building permits, they can’t build where they want to — it’s not free at all,” Schackow said.
Halper’s speech about tension in the West Bank came just hours after a car driven by a Palestinian man crashed into a crowd of bystanders in East Jerusalem, killing one and injuring 14 others. Hostilities in East Jerusalem and the West Bank have flared in the past week due to the attempted assassination of a Jewish activist and multiple Palestinian protests which have turned violent following the closing of the al-Aqsa mosque to Palestinians under the age of 50. The mosque is located on the contested Temple Mount, an important religious site to both Jews and Muslims.
“What’s happened is the entire situation has just deteriorated into chaos,” Halper said. “Both sides have simply gotten to a point where they’re lashing out at each other. It’s a very terrible situation and a very dangerous one.”
(Photo: Jeff Halper, the co-founder of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions and a 2006 Nobel Peace Prize nominee, speaks to University of South Dakota students, faculty, staff and community members Wednesday in the I.D. Weeks Library. Halper said the two state solution for the Palestinian and Israeli conflict is dead and spoke out against the Israeli government’s demolition of Palestinian homes in the West Bank. Malachi Petersen / The Volante)
