http://www.almubadara.org/new/edetails.php?id=1172Interview of Jeff Halper, A professor of anthropology at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and peace activist for over 30 years, Halper co-founded the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) in 1997, after the Oslo peace process collapsed. The organization exposes the injustice of the occupation and asserts the crucial role of international civil society to end it.
Excerpt:
Israeli government recently takes the unilateral policy to Palestine. Why has it been imposed?
Halper:Israel has never recognized and acknowledged that Palestinian people are living in this country. The Zionism has always denied another people and their rights. Until today, the idea is that the whole country, between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River, is our country, exclusively only for Jewish.
The Oslo peace process was the game. They never really negotiated with Palestinians. In the Oslo peace accords, it demanded the Palestinians to recognize Israel in 78 percent of the country, but it never recognized the rights of Palestinians. Israel seemed to be negotiating, but doubled the settlements in that period. It didn't see any connection between negotiations and what was doing on the ground. That's why the second intifada came out, because Palestinians said ‘What is this? We are sitting for seven years to talk to you, now there were twice the settlements than the beginning of the peace process.’
We think, as Israelis, that Jews and Arabs should live together. Palestinians have rights of self-determination just like we have. We have to fight also for their rights. One of our slogans is ‘we refuse to be their enemies.’
We are against the Israeli policy of the occupation and the displacement. If you create an apartheid situation, if you lock another people into the prison, in the end, you cannot develop a healthy, normal and prosper society. The occupation, conflict, terrorism, settlements, all affects the Israeli society and economy. As long as the occupation continues, Israel itself cannot be free.