The Martlet

Israel’s occupation of Palestine is the Middle Eastern equivalent of South African apartheid according to Jeff Halper, the renowned Israeli political activist and anthropologist who spoke at Camosun’s Lansdowne campus on Jan. 29.

The event, hosted by the Victoria chapter of the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid, featured Halper’s travelling lecture and slideshow, entitled: “Israel/Palestine: Towards Peace, Apartheid or Warehousing?” Though the use of the word “apartheid” in the title of the presentation caused a murmur to go up from the crowd, Halper insisted that his talk was meant to raise awareness of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict throughout the West.

Although he criticized the Hamas-led Palestinian government in Gaza, Halper mainly lamented the effects of Israel’s policy of occupation on the people, economy and environment of Palestine.

“I don’t want to demonize Israel,” Halper explained. “I want them to be held accountable .... I can criticize Israel because I am an Israeli.”

Listing reasons for his unflattering comparisons to the former South African apartheid, Halper cited the Israeli-built “security” wall surrounding Palestinian territory as eight metres high in places, and 350 to 500 miles long – twice as tall and five times as long as the Berlin Wall. The wall, officially called the “Separation Barrier,” is a “demographic border between Jews and Arabs,” said Halper.

“There are two elements of apartheid,” Halper declared while clicking slowly through pictures of rubble and desperate looking people. “Separation and domination. This is why we use the term ‘apartheid.’”

Halper suggested that in the last month alone, over 5,000 Palestinian homes were demolished, with “tens of thousands of demolition orders outstanding in the West Bank.”

Halper went on to discuss past efforts to “resist non-violently Israel’s demolition of Palestinian houses in the Occupied Territories,” which lead to his role in co-founding the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD).

Passionately recounting the physical and psychological damage suffered by personal friends whose homes had been demolished as well as that they’d suffered, Halper said that each house demolition is like a microcosm of the occupation.

“Instead of going down streets, the armies are going through the houses,” he said.

Halper called attention to mounting economic destruction stating that, according to ICAHD, the Israeli government has destroyed over $2 billion worth of infrastructure in Gaza – including homes, roads and agricultural land.

However, Halper’s presentation also highlighted some of the positive steps that organizations like ICAHD were undertaking to build peace, like helping to rebuild thousands of homes in Israeli-Occupied territory.

Halper suggested the possibility of an end to the conflict through a “two-plus state solution” – an economic federation of Israel, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. He said the federation could be similar to the European Union.

“But, it is too early for that,” he cautioned. “Right now, we have to provide a protective state for Palestinians until a solution can be found.”

Halper admitted that although he performs his slideshow around the world to raise awareness of the Palestinian cause, it may not be the most pressing issue for the West.

“But for the Muslim world, this conflict is more important than Iraq,” he said.

For more information on Jeff Halper or ICAHD, visit icahd.org.