KALAMAZOO, Mich.--Dr. Jeff Halper, anthropologist and 2006 Nobel Peace Prize nominee, called for an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Israeli policy of Palestinian house demolition during a lecture he gave at WMU on Thursday.
"I want to show you what's happening to the people," Halper said, speaking of the house demolitions. "My basic feeling is that this is not fair."
Entitled, "An Israeli in Palestine: Resisting Dispossession, Redeeming Israel," the lecture was held as part of the Kalamazoo Peace Center's Peace Week. The Kalamazoo Women in Black and the Western Michigan University Center for the Study of Ethics in Society also sponsored it.
Halper, an Israeli- American who moved to Israel in 1973, and now works there as the coordinating director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, declared that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not a "symmetrical conflict."
Israel is the 4th largest nuclear power, according to Halper, and has the power to end the dispute, but hasn't done so because the Israeli government doesn't want to. He said the basic problem is the Israeli government's viewpoint that "The Land of Israel belongs exclusively to the Jewish people; Arabs reside in 'our country' by sufferance and not by right."
Halper and other members of the ICAHD work to bring Israelis and Palestinians together in opposition to this viewpoint. The group rebuilds homes demolished by Israeli authorities, and members will place themselves in front of houses about to be destroyed by bulldozers in efforts to prevent demolition. Palestinian homes are often destroyed because they are built on land zoned for other uses.
However, as Halper described, it is nearly impossible for Palestinians to get building permits for homes. Palestinians were granted 18 last year. To humanize the problem, Halper told the story of the Shawamreh family, whose house has been destroyed a total of four times. "Why isn't this international outrage?" he asked the audience. The wall being built to separate Palestinians into their own areas was also a point of discussion in the speech.
A Q&A followed the lecture. Five or six individuals debated with Halper about whether or not Israel was truly to blame in the issue. Halper and a young Israeli man were nearly in a shouting match at one point, arguing about Israel's guilt in the matter. However, the majority of the audience gave Halper a standing ovation at the conclusion of the Q&A.
One audience member, Lois Dickason, a member of the Kalamazoo Women in Black, thought he was one of the best speakers she'd heard on the subject. The audience of nearly 140 stayed through the entire speech, almost filling the 180 seats to capacity. Many members also stayed for the books signing and refreshments offered afterward in the Fetzer Center's lobby.
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1 comment:
Ellen,
This was a very informative account of an interesting speech. I especially liked the way that you used your quotations; they were all relevant and integrated into your story structure well.
I think you could have benefitted from featuring a few specific quotations from the audience and some tactile descriptions of how they reacted (a collective shock, a collective groan, etc.)
Otherwise, I thought it was a really great summary of a complicated topic. Good job!
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