Only We Can End the Conflict
An Israeli Jew in Gaza
By Jeff Halper
06/08/08 "Counterpunch" --- In another few days, I will sail on
one of the Free Gaza movement boats from Cyprus to Gaza. The
mission is to break the Israeli siege, an absolutely illegal
siege which has plunged a million and a half Palestinians into
wretched conditions: imprisoned in their own homes, exposed to
extreme military violence, deprived of the basic necessities of
life, stripped of their most fundamental human rights and
dignity. The siege violates the most fundamental principle of
international law: the inadmissibility of harming civilian
populations. Our voyage also exposes Israel’s attempt to absolve
itself of responsibility for what is happening in Gaza. Israel’s
claim that there is no Occupation, or that the Occupation ended
with “disengagement,” is patently false. Occupation is defined
in international law as having effective control over a
territory. If Israel intercepts our boats, it is clear that it
is the Occupying Power exercising effective control over Gaza.
Nor has the siege anything to do with “security.” Like other
elements of the Occupation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem,
where Israel has also besieged cities, towns, villages and whole
regions, the siege on Gaza is fundamentally political. It is
intended to isolate the democratically-elected government of
Palestine and break its power to resist Israeli attempts to
impose an apartheid regime over the entire country.
This is why I, an Israeli Jew, felt compelled to join this
voyage to break the siege. As a person who seeks a just peace
with the Palestinians, who understands (despite what our
politicians tell us) that they are not our enemies but rather
people seeking precisely what we sought and fought for –
national self-determination I cannot stand idly aside. I can no
more passively witness my government’s destruction of another
people than I can watch the Occupation destroy the moral fabric
of my own country. To do so would violate my commitment to human
rights, the very essence of prophetic Jewish religion, culture
and morals, without which Israel is no longer Jewish but an
empty, if powerful, Sparta.
Israel has, of course, legitimate security concerns, and
Palestinian attacks against civilian populations in Sderot and
other Israeli communities bordering on Gaza cannot be condoned.
Under the Fourth Geneva Convention, Israel, as an Occupying
Power, has the right to monitor the movement of arms to Gaza as
a matter of “immediate military necessity.” As activists
committed to resisting the siege non-violently, I have no
objection to the Israeli navy boarding our boats and searching
for weapons. But only that. Because Israel has no right to
besiege a civilian population, it has no legal right to prevent
us, private persons sailing solely in international and
Palestinian waters, from reaching Gaza – particularly since
Israel has declared that it no longer occupies it. Once the
Israeli navy is convinced we pose no security threat, then, we
thoroughly expect it to permit us to continue our peaceful and
lawful journey into Gaza port.
Ordinary people have often played key roles in history,
particularly in situations like this where governments shirk
their responsibilities. My voyage to Gaza is a statement of
solidarity with the Palestinian people in their time of
suffering, but it also conveys a message to my fellow citizens.
First, despite what our political leaders say, there is a
political solution to the conflict, there are partners for
peace. The very fact that I, an Israeli Jew, will be welcomed by
Palestinian Gazans makes that very point. My presence in Gaza
also affirms that any resolution of the conflict must include
all the peoples of the country, Palestinian and Israeli alike. I
am therefore using whatever credibility my actions lend me to
call on my government to renew genuine peace negotiations based
on the Prisoners Document accepted by all Palestinian factions,
including Hamas. The release of all political prisoners held by
Israel, including Hamas government ministers and parliamentary
members, in return for the repatriation of the Israeli soldier
Gilad Shalit, would dramatically transform the political
landscape by providing the trust and good-will essential to any
peace process.
Second, the Palestinians are not our enemies. In fact, I urge my
fellow Israeli Jews to disassociate from the dead-end politics
of our failed political leaders by declaring, in concert with
Israeli and Palestinian peace-makers: We refuse to be enemies.
Only that assertion of popular will can signal our government
that we are fed up with being manipulated by those profiting
from the Occupation.
And third, as the infinitely stronger party in the conflict and
the only Occupying Power, we Israelis must accept responsibility
for our failed and oppressive policies. Only we can end the
conflict.
In the Israeli conception, Zionism was intended to return to the
Jews control over their own destiny. Do not let us be held
hostage to politicians who endanger the future of our society.
Join with us end the siege of Gaza, and with it the Occupation
in its entirety. Let us, the Israeli and Palestinian peoples,
declare to our leaders: we demand a just and lasting peace in
this tortured Holy Land.
Jeff Halper, the head of the Israeli Committee Against House
Demolitions, was a nominee for the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. He
can be reached at jeff@icahd.org.
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