Jeff Halper speaks the truth

Last winter I was pleased to be able to meet Israeli activist Jeff Halper at a coffee held for him on the occasion of his appearance at a hearing in Chicago on the subject "Does U.S. Policy on Israel and Palestine Uphold Our Values?" You know my answer to the question - absolutely not!

Jeff is the driving force behind the Israeli Committee Against Housing Demolitions where his love of his country prompts his effort to see justice done to the Palestinians. There is no more powerful voice for what I am trying to achieve with this blog - to right a great wrong that has been in progress for over 40 years. I, too, am driven by a love of my country and am outraged at the hypocrisy of American backing of blatant Israeli oppression.

On his Facebook page, Jeff says, "Does the world know that Israel's Constitution decrees that 'Arabs are there by suffrage and not by Right'? How can you have PEACE without Justice?"

Here are some notable facts cited by Jeff.

24,000 Palestinian homes in occupied territories have been demolished since 1967

94% of Palestine was owned by Palestinians in 1948 - the remaining 6% had been bought by the Zionist movement. In 1949, of the land that is modern Israel, 94% was controlled by Israelis, 6% by Palestinians.

Today there are 230,000 Palestinians in East Jerusalem and 20,000 demolition orders outstanding for East Jerusalem.

Jeff says, "demolition orders are forever" - for the Palestinians, the Israeli bulldozers may come today, tomorrow, in ten years or maybe never.

"I am not aware of any Palestinian winning a legal case reversing a demolition order"

Israel has zoned the entire West Bank as agricultural land - all of East Jerusalem has been zoned green space (for the purpose of preventing Palestinian building)

When this post was first put up, there were videos of Jeff speaking at the hearing. They are, as of 2019, no longer available.