Reflections of an American-Israeli-Palestinian Jew
The Israeli activist who went to Gaza by boat from Cyprus, flouting Israel's blockade of the Hamas-ruled territory, wrote an account of his arrest by Israeli authorities upon his return to the Jewish state.
The activist, Jeff Halper, says he was given honorary Palestinian citizenship in Gaza, making him probably the only American-Israeli-Palestinian Jew in the world (Halper is a native of Minnesota).
Here are some of Halper's reflections:
To be honest, we Israeli Jews are the problem. The Palestinian years ago accepted our existence in the country as a people and are willing to accept ANY solution – two states, one state, no state, whatever. It is us who want exclusivity over the "Land of Israel" who cannot conceive of a single country, who cannot accept the national presence of Palestinians (we talk about "Arabs" in our country), and who have eliminated by our settlements even the possibility of the two-state solution in which we take 80% of the land. So it's sad, truly sad, that our "enemies" want peace and co-existence (and tell me that in HEBREW) and we don't...When I was in Gaza everyone in Israel – including the media who interviewed me – warned me to be careful, to watch out for my life. Aren't you scared? they asked. Well, the only time I felt genuine and palpable fear during the entire journey was when I got back to Israel. I went from Gaza through the Erez checkpoint because I wanted to make the point that the siege is not only by sea. On the Israeli side I was immediately arrested, charged with violating a military order prohibiting Israelis from being in Gaza and jailed at the Shikma prison in Ashkelon. In my cell that night, someone recognized from the news. All night I was physically threatened by right-wing Israelis – and I was sure I wouldn't make it till the morning. Ironically, there were three Palestinians in my cell who kind of protected me, so the danger was from Israelis, not Palestinians, in Gaza as well as in Israel.
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Of course, Israel is an evil country with an evil government, based on an evil political system, surrounded by people who desperately want peace.
And of course it is the burden of the Jewish people to make every Arab in the world 100% happy.
And we must have an unfair advantage, because we aren’t all dead yet.
And of course President Achmadinajad is ready to start a nuclear out of a genuine concern for the happiness of Palestinians.
And of course, there are the good Jews, who live in Alaska and vote for Ralph Nader and spend their lives complaining about how just a “Small minority of Jews who are ruining the world”.
There’s nothing “new” here-Uriel.
Halper reports the facts as he lives them.
He surely is NOT the “first” Palestinian Jew...there are other informed, observant and courageous activist who recognizes that instead of being the problem we must actively seek solution-- in partnership with our Palestinian brothers and sisters in resisting/ending the brutal immoral illegal occupation and expropriation of indigenous land.
As we ALL should be doing, Halper seeks peace with justice. Deuteronomy directs us ALL—“Justice justice thou shalt pursue!”
If not now, when? if not I, who?--Hillel…
or.."The day is short the task is Great..it is not your duty to complete the task but you are not free to desist from it!” Pirkei avot.
Where are all the “biblical literalists”???
Embedded with evangelical Christians who pray/work towards armageddon/rapture.
Doesn’t THAT make nutzo rightwing zionists SUICIDAL fanatics??
Jeff Halper should long ago have been incarcerated for his disloyal activities against Israel. He should be fined as well and deported to the USA where he holds dual citizenship. We know that he is an active agent of the Palestine Lobby and that Israel gave him refuge when he fled the vietnam draft in the USA in 1966.
This man is a dupe. he should be given a fair trial ( guilt as charged) on charges of being a traitor to the state of Israel. if he is a citizen he should be given a life sentence. If he s not a citizen he should be trnansported to
Antartica where he can preach his special brand of anti Israel and anti semetic B S .
Jeff Halper is a traitor to his country and to his people.
He is also a naive fool to the highest degree.
How much land does Israel have to give up before it realizes that the Arabs want to destroy Israel and kill all Jews?
They got southern Lebanon and they sent missiles into Israel from there.
They got Gaza and they sent rockets from there.
They got big chunks of the Judea and Samaria (West Bank), and they plan and execute terrorist attacks from there.
The Arabs that live in East Jerusalem got free access to Israel, and they run over Israelis in Bulldozers from there, as well as planning and executing other numerous terrorist attacks from there.
I could go on and on and illustrate hundreds of historical facts to illustrate the point that Arabs want to destroy Israel and kill all Jews, and even the ones that are not actively pursuing those goals support the same policies.
This goes for Arabs that hold Israeli citizenship. They help and support terrorist activity and directly and indirectly assist terrorist attacks against Israelis. And Israel tolerates this for the sake of world opinion and democracy that these Arabs really do not deserve. Nobody else would tolerate this. And they would not do the same for Jews.
If a Jew in Iran, for example (I know Iranians are not Arabs, they are Muslims, but there are no other examples of Muslim countries with such a large Jewish population), assisted anyone in an attack against Iranian targets inside Iran, the Iranian government and people would kill Jews by the thousands (there are over 20,000 Jews living in Tehran).
To Israelis and to Jews around the world, the “Peace Process” was and still is a genuine desire to live in peace. Jews are not people that like war and conflict, and history over the last 3,000 years has shown this, we just want to live in peace and prosperity and just to be left alone.
For Arabs, it is just a process by which they get land for nothing, keep doing what they are doing, that is killing Jews and doing everything they can to destroy Israel, and using the land that they acquire from Israel through this fake “Peace Process” to weaken Israel, to attack Israel, to kill Israelis, and to choke Israel in its indefensible borders until they achieve their ultimate goal, which is to destroy Israel and to kill all Jews.
Why did Egypt only started the “Peace Process” after it lost the Yom Kippur war (a war that it fought in a very dirty way when it attacked Israel on its holiest day, Yom Kippur; Imagine if Israel attacked during Ramadan; the world would go nuts and start condemning Israel left and right, if not jumping to assist the Arabs, even if they don’t like them, just to punish the Jews).
The “Peace Process” proved to be very profitable for Egypt; they got back the Sinai, with its oil and its tourist hot spots, they got back the profitable Suez Canal, they got billions of dollars from the Americans, and benefited economically from trade with Israel.
They have not done anything in return. They wouldn’t have attacked Israel anyway because it proved to be too strong militarily even though Israel was severely outnumbered and outgunned during the Yom Kippur War. After all, Syria hasn’t attacked since the Yom Kippur war either, without any “peace” agreements, and has used proxies, like Hezbollah, instead. Egypt has done similar things by supporting Palestinian terrorists, even if it was indirectly.
The Egyptians were smart enough to realize that the way to destroy Israel was to pretend to want peace, strip Israel of its lands, reduce it to a tiny size (as if it’s not small enough already; like Arabs don’t have enough land and oil as it is) and indefensible borders, weaken it over time, let the Arabs with Israeli citizenship and Palestinians to weaken it from within, choke it into submission and wait until it is weak enough to destroy.
More Israelis have died since the “Peace Process” began than did in the decades previous to it, so how many more lives does Israel has to sacrifice to satisfy world opinion???
Besides, nobody cares when Jews die anyway, nobody cared during the holocaust, even though it was well known it was going on since early 1942; everyone just condemned it after it was finished, and everyone pretended that they were horrified after it happened, nobody except a few righteous gentiles ever did anything about it, everyone was just happy that it was someone else that did it so they didn’t appear to be evil.
The same is happening with Iran now, which shows how people don’t learn from history, and everyone is trying to stop Israel from defending itself by saying how negatively it will impact oil production and the world economy. Nobody cares if millions of Jews die and if Israel is destroyed, they will probably be happy, since everyone thinks Jews control the world.
If Jews really controlled the world, Israel would not be facing so many problems constantly and there wouldn’t have been so many holocausts and other mass murders of Jews throughout history (remember that Hitler’s holocaust wasn’t the first one, just the latest one and the most murderous and well-planned holocaust).
Just because there are a few Jewish millionaires and billionaires doesn’t mean that Jews control the world, after all, the Saudi Royal Family has more wealth than the wealth of all Jews in the world combined, and they have much more power because of their oil.
I am not a “religious Zionist”, or an “extremist right-wing settler”, or any of the other terms that people use to describe Jews who rightfully reject the FACADE of the peace process, I am just a realistic Jew that can see through all the bullshit of the Arabs and their supporters for what it really is.
I am a businessman, and from experience, I can see through people’s bullshit, including what everyone says (including Muslims and non-Muslims alike, even some Jews and Israelis) about how Islam is a peaceful religion and that Arabs want peace and that it is the evil settlers who are pushing terrorists to the extreme.
Actions speak louder than words, in business and in politics.
SHOW ME, DON’T TELL ME!!!!!!!!
SHOW ME THAT ISLAM IS A PEACEFUL RELIGION AND THAT ARABS WANT GENUINE PEACE WITH ISRAEL!
DON’T TELL ME THAT IT IS THE SETTLERS’ FAULT!
Israel removed thousands of settlers from Gaza and look what happened!
STOP TERRORIST ACTIVITY!
STOP SPRAYING ISRAEL WITH ROCKETS!
STOP THE IRANIAN NUCLEAR PROGRAM!
STOP THE ARMS BUILDUP IN SYRIA AND IRAN!
STOP TEACHING AND INFLAMING HATE FOR JEWS AND ISRAEL IN YOUR CHILDREN!
COMPROMISE!
Israel has compromised way too many times and all the Arabs can say is “it’s not our fault that another armed Arab or Palestinian group carried this murder or this terrorist attack or fired this rocket on Israel”
THEN I WILL BELIEVE THAT ARABS WANT GENUINE PEACE!
Tell Halper that I have a friend in Santa Rosa, Ca., 70+ years of age. a Jew. born and raised in what has been Israel, since 1948 and has family still residing there. His passport says, PALESTINE. the same passport as the late Jew murderer, Grand Mufti Husseni, the ally of Hitler. Tell Halper to learn his history before he opens his mouth. HE WHO DOES NOT LEARN FROM HISTORY IS CONDEMNED TO REPEAT IT.
That a true son of
Israel~ Giving credence to the killers who live in
Gaza.
.
How Israel will ever continue to exist with such brains that have turned into Gefilte fish is
par for the the course for the Far Left.
.
In San Francisco~ Jews are harassed and the liberals are
ap proud to wear masks like those in Gaza.
But nobody cares that rockets fall in Israel.
Jeff should become Muslim and live Gaza.
And how sad that JTA
even covers such a law-breaker!
Peace will not come to Israel via the Jeffs of the world.
.
The Jews know exactly what they need to do to have
peace.
It will not come from PM’s or any human being.
The Torah tells Jews
what their destiny is.But I guess folks
no better than G-d.
What a tragedy!
.
The bulk of Americans believe the HASBARA in US media about Palestinians because there is NO balance. No humanizing reports, stories or history provided. There exists another WALL...that of stony silence covered with mythology. Most people have no knowledge about Palestine or Gaza except what they hear from FAUX news which spoonfeeds/sustains anti Muslim anti Arab bigotry which PERMEATES US MSM. Thanks to disinformation campaigns that CAMERA, LGF, and other disseminators of fear and hate recycle continuously.
Not only does Jeff Halper think that we can and do walk safely in Gaza, he knows it. Anyone who has studied this issue and BEEN THERE, knows that it is NOT Judaism but Zionism that is despised. Flag waving segregationist biased racist bigotted anti-Palestinian hatred is what maintains this never ending cycle.
If one truly wants to make peace then one has to build bridges. There are many other Jews like Halper who get it.
Tragically, Israelis continue to listen to the war mongers/haters. Take the trouble to find out for yourself, and become part of the SOLUTION,
as so many already have. I guess you have to believe that people are NOT that different no matter who or where OR ELSE we are all doomed to never ending war. You KNOW the truth in your kishkas.
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Steve Ornstein
09/04/08 12:07 PM
Jeff Halper may be living in Israel but one needs to check his motivations for leaving the US in the first place. It has been suggested on the internet that in order to fulfill his opportunity for promoting anti-Zionist and anti-Israeli political objectives living in Israel provided him legitimacy. If he is so unhappy with a Jewish State then I seriously suggest he go and live with his new found friends, Hamas, in Gaza. They could use the help.
There is no peace because no one has the strength of leadership nor the trust to move forward. This is a situation that will only continue until the educational system in the PA stops spreading violence as a theme towards Israelis and Jews. We are ready for peace with compromise when we have a honest PA broker that is willing to accept the reality of our present situation. But for Halper to preach this fantasy rubbish about the peaceful and filled enemy reminds me of a story about a salesman that is selling the Brooklyn bridge. Any takers?