Blessed are the peace-keepers part 2

Jeff Halper heads up an organisation called the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), founded in 1997.

He gives us a fascinating potted history of the Arab/Israeli conflict. The whole area between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River is the Holy Land, he says. “The trouble is, two peoples are claiming one land.”

He reminds us that Zionism grew out of an emerging nationalism in Europe at the end of the 19th century, when Jews were being persecuted, especially in Russia. They fled, some west to the UK and the US, but many others wanted to claim Israel as their homeland. He tries to be fair: he doesn't believe that the driving force behind Zionism was colonial.

“Their blind spot was that they didn't see the Arabs, the Palestinians already living there,” he says.” They were irrelevant to the Jewish national story.

“The fly in the ointment, was that Zionists came into this country with an exclusive claim, and that turned Zionisms into a colonial movement, because they didn't recognise the rights or even existence of the indigenous people living here.

“In 1948, 700,000 Palestinians were driven out of the city, and in 1967 there was another displacement. This exclusive claim on the land continues until this present day.”

A highly effective method for displacing Palestinians has been through the systematic demolition of their homes. Since 1967, more than 24,000 houses have been bulldozed.

A number of attempts to carve up the land between the two nations were tried and failed in the 20th century. But in 1988 the PLO under Yasser Arafat accepted the so-called two-state solution under which Israel would take 78% of the land – even though Palestinians make up half the population. The Palestinians agreed that if they could have the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza as their homeland, they would recognise the state of Israel.

“It's not fair or just, but the Palestinians accepted this,” he says.

The two-state solution was accepted by the international community. In 2002 the Arab League accepted it. “Everyone agrees,” says Jeff. “Most Israeli Jews would also accept this, provided they were assured of their security.”

The problem, he says, is the Israeli Government, a coalition dominated by extremists. The Israeli Government has sanctioned over 200 illegal settlements on the West Bank and built a wall twice as high as the Berlin Wall and five times longer.

“The Israeli Government is still pursuing a policy of exclusivity. And Congress – which is dominated by Jews and Christian Zionists – won't allow the US to get tough on Israel.”

The real danger now, he says, echoing Mitri Raheb's words on Saturday, is that the Holy Land will move to apartheid. “The only alternative is a one-state solution and that's not even on the negotiating table. We're stuck.”

Jeff's organisation sets out to monitor and prevent house demolition, “It's a tragic, traumatic experience. Your sacred space is violated when your home is destroyed,” he says. “And it happens not because you are a terrorist, but because the Israeli Government refuses to grant building permits to Palestinians, even if they own the land.”

Some of this is based on outdated zoning regulations, dating back to the British Mandate when the population was a quarter the size. The Israeli Government has declared 72% of the West Bank as “state land”.

Many more homes have been demolished in military operations: 8000 Palestinian homes were destroyed in collateral damage in the conflict in Gaza of 2008/09. Bulldozers as high as two-storey buildings were sent in ahead of the tanks to clear the way.

“Even today there are 22,000 house demolition orders outstanding in East Jerusalem. That could happen at any time. Some families have seen their houses destroyed two or three times.

“Yet Israel has managed to capture the public discussion, as a poor western democracy fighting Muslim terrorists. Our job is to say 'no', this is not about security and we are going to resist it, by getting in front of bulldozers, calling journalists and diplomats, and rebuilding homes. We've rebuilt 170 houses over the last 12 years, not as a humanitarian gesture but as a political one, as a way of showing solidarity.”

Jeff ends with a strong image. The Israel/Palestine situation is not the bloodiest conflict, he says, when you compare it to what is going on in the Congo, for example. “But it is the bone in the throat of the international community.”