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Obstacles to Peace a Reframing of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

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Obstacles to Peace a Reframing of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Rehov Tiveria 37 Tel: +972-(0)54-303-9170 Website: www.icahd.org 94543 Jerusalem, Israel E-mail: [email protected] OBSTACLES TO PEACE A REFRAMING OF THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT Written and Presented By Jeff Halper, Co-Founder and Former Director The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) Maps Prepared and Designed By Michael Younan and PalMap of GSE Front Cover Photograph By William Parry May, 2016 Licensed under Creative Commons. You are free to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work and to make derivative works, but you must attribute the work to The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD). WHAT IS ICAHD? THE ISRAELI COMMITTEE AGAINST HOUSE DEMOLITIONS The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) is a non-violent Israeli direct-action organization established in 1997 to end Israel’s Occupation over the Palestinians. ICAHD takes as its main focus, as its vehicle for resistance, Israel's policy of demolishing Palestinian homes in the Occupied Territories – over 47,000 homes destroyed since 1967. The motivation for demolishing these homes is purely political: to either drive the Palestinians out of the country altogether, or to confine the four million residents of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza to small, crowded, impoverished and disconnected enclaves, thus effectively foreclosing any viable Palestinian entity and ensuring Israeli control. In more than 95% of the cases the homes demolished had nothing to do with security: their inhabitants did not commit any acts of terrorism and, indeed, were never charged with any crime. Taken against the background of Israel’s systematic destruction of more than 500 Palestinian villages, towns and urban neighborhoods in 1948 and after, and its ongoing policy of demolishing the homes of Israeli (Arab) citizens – some 20-40,000 homes in the so-called “unrecognized villages” are slated for demolition – the picture that emerges is one of ethnic cleansing. Such policies are intolerable according to Jewish values, they violate fundamental human rights and international law, and they constitute a major obstacle to achieving peace and reconciliation between our two peoples. ICAHD operates on several levels: Resistance “on the ground.” ICAHD members have physically blocked bulldozers sent to demolish homes, resisting their demolition while also mobilizing diplomats and journalists in their campaign to end demolitions. Raising funds abroad, ICAHD has also mobilized Israelis and Palestinians to rebuild demolished homes as political acts of resistance; we have rebuilt 189 homes. The focus on house demolitions has proven an effective vehicle of grassroots peace-making and international mobilization, as well as a means of resistance. Advocacy within Israel. ICAHD attempts to reach the wider Israeli society with its message of a just peace – and the possibility of achieving a just peace, a belief Israeli Jews have mostly lost. We produce materials in Hebrew, hold informational gatherings around the country, network with other Israeli organizations and conduct Hebrew-language tours of the Occupied Territory. International Advocacy. ICAHD’s familiarity with realities “on the ground,” combined with its political analysis rooted in Israeli politics and society, gives it a special authority and insight into the sources of the conflict. Our views are frequently sought by diplomats, journalists, political delegations and fact-finding missions, church and Jewish groups, and the general public. ICAHD conducts extensive and systematic advocacy campaigns abroad supported by ICAHD USA, ICAHD UK, ICAHD Finland, ICAHD Germany and ICAHD Australia, along with many other partner organizations around the world. ICAHD also initiates campaigns abroad and participates in international conferences. Cooperation with Palestinian organizations and communities. ICAHD can only operate in the Occupied Territories in close collaboration with its Palestinian partners. Be it in strategizing, in launching joint campaigns and projects or in rebuilding activities, ICAHD has managed to retain trust and a close working relationship with Palestinians throughout the extremely difficult years of Intifada and repression. ICAHD was also the catalyst behind Beit Arabiya, which was a center for strategizing among Palestinian, Israeli and international activists located in a demolished home in the West Bank town of Anata. In certain cases we have also provided strategic practical support to Palestinian families and communities, including legal assistance to families facing demolition For more information about our activities or to join in our efforts, please contact us or our ICAHD chapters abroad: ICAHD - Rehov Tiveria 37, 94543 Jerusalem, Israel - [email protected] - www.icahd.org ICAHD UK - BM ICAHD UK, London WC1N 3XX, UK - [email protected] - www.icahduk.org ICAHD USA - PO Box 8118 New York NY 10116, USA - [email protected] - www.icahdusa.org ICAHD Finland - Hämeentie 26 C 39, 00530 Helsinki, Finland - [email protected] - www.icahd.fi ICAHD Germany - [email protected] or [email protected] - www.icahd.de ICAHD Australia - [email protected] ICAHD’s work is supported solely by donations and we appreciate financial support. TABLE OF CONTENTS What is ICAHD? Foreword Descriptions of Maps Maps Reframing the Conflict The Matrix of Control: Annexing Land While Getting Rid of the Palestinians Demolishing Homes, Demolishing Families, Demolishing Peace Barak’s “Generous Offer” The Issue Of Hamas: Do Palestinians Have To Become Zionists Before There Is Peace? Global Gaza Terrorism “From Below,” Terrorism “From Above” Apartheid, Warehousing or…. So Where Do We Go From Here? Emerging Alternatives to a Two-State Solution Appendices 1. Statistics On House Demolitions (November 1947 – May 2016) 2. Israeli Violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention Bibliography Useful Websites Photographs The Authors FOREWORD This manual grew out of tours of the Occupied Territories given by ICAHD over the years for diplomats, journalists, study missions and activists. As might be expected of a work that began as a guidebook (and is written by an anthropologist), it presents a “grounded analysis” of Israel’s Occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza. It begins with the basic “facts on the ground” but then moves to analysis. In the end we ask: Where is Israel headed in its five decade Occupation? Are we moving towards a genuine attempt to resolve our century-long conflict with the Palestinians or, more chillingly, towards a state of permanently “warehousing” them? We also examine here the mechanisms by which Israel has managed to perpetuate its control over the Palestinians and their lands, what we call “framing”, in particular: How officials of successive Israeli governments and their spokespeople succeed in “selling” their country’s heavy-handed control over millions of people deprived of their lands and rights as somehow justifiable. How they convince not only their own people but also otherwise liberal people abroad – political leaders, journalists, academics and much of the Diaspora Jewish community, not to mention the “man on the street,” – to support policies which are manifestly unjust, which plainly violate international law and fundamental human rights and which serve to destabilize relations between the West and the entire Muslim world. How they succeed in casting Palestinian resistance as base “terrorism” while casting Israel, one of the world’s strongest military powers and one its longest-standing Occupying Powers, as a mere victim. Finally, and most important: is it still possible to end the Occupation and salvage the two-state solution, or do we have to begin considering other options? Will the new American Administration depart from failed American policy over the past half-century that offers absolute support to Israel no matter what the political costs? More pointedly, will the Administration succeed in persuading Congress, Israel’s bi-partisan trump card, to support a more assertive policy of finally ending the Occupation in favor of a just and lasting peace? And what is our role as peace-makers and concerned members of international civil society in bringing about the end of this increasingly bloody and globally destabilizing conflict? Besides imparting information and addressing these fundamental questions, this book is intended to help advocates of a just peace “reframe” the conflict in ways that offer just, workable and sustainable (if often creative) solutions to the conflict. Since this is a book published by a critical Israeli peace and human rights organization focused on ending the Occupation, it does not hesitate to place responsibility for resolving the conflict mainly at Israel’s doorstep. This is not to absolve the Palestinians of responsibility; it simply recognizes the tremendous imbalance of power between the two sides, and thus of their respective abilities to end the conflict. Thus our reframing stresses three key elements: that an Occupation indeed exists and is the center of the conflict (since 1967 Israel has officially denied that fact); that Israel is the strong party in the conflict, the only one that can actually end the Occupation, and which therefore can be held accountable for its policies and actions (rather than Israel’s disingenuous presentation of itself as the victim); and that the Occupation is pro-active, a vehicle for establishing Israel’s permanent control over the entire country, not defensive or reactive. Our reframing also critically questions the concept
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