Israel has never recognized acknowledged Palestinians

proof of the one-sided deals shoved down arbs throats. . .boy I wonder why they won't be "willing partners" in a deal. . . .

'As Israelis, We Also Fight for Palestinians'
[Interview] Jeff Halper, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize nominee

http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?article_class=3&no=283072&rel_no=1

2006-04-05 07:07 KST

A professor of anthropology at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and peace activist for over 30 years, Halper co-founded the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) in 1997, after the Oslo peace process collapsed. The organization exposes the injustice of the occupation and asserts the crucial role of international civil society to end it.

Halper calls the Israeli policy toward Palestinians as "the matrix of control" -- the framework created by strategic settlements, Israeli-only highways and the separation wall. He strongly criticizes the occupation and says, "As Israelis, we also fight for Palestinians."

"As long as Israel has the occupation, you cannot have a healthy, normal, prosperous society," he said.

Halper has been nominated for the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for his grass root peace activities, along with Professor Ghassan Andoni who was introduced in a previous interview.

Iwasaki Atsuko [In Bold] spoke with Jeff Halper on March 27 at his Jerusalem office.

What was the trigger driving you to a peace movement?

I grew up in the United States and came to Israel in 1973. I was involved in the famous 1960's movement -- the civil rights and the anti-Vietnam war movements. Even though I came to Israel, I knew that where I was coming was not perfect and I was always critical about Israel. So I moved into the Israeli peace movement right away.

In the early 1970's, we never thought that the occupation would be so strong. There weren't settlements yet, Ariel Sharon yet. I thought that we could be over and finish it. The current situation of the occupation is really disappointment. That's why I continue to fight against it all these years.

You co-founded the Israeli Committee against House Demolition (ICAHD), which resists the demolition of Palestinian homes by sitting front of bulldozers, confronting Israeli soldiers and rebuilding demolished homes.

After the Oslo peace process began in 1993, Israeli peace movements became kind of quiet, because we thought that former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres would negotiate with Palestinians and maybe peace would come out of it. But in 1996, Benjamin Netanyahu was elected as a prime minister. He ran on exclusive peace process platform. We saw that the Oslo peace process had collapsed. The occupation proceeded in very bloody way. House demolitions and settlements began again.

We asked Palestinians about what would be a good issue to cooperate on. They talked about house demolitions a lot, so we decided that it would be our focus, although our big goal was the end of occupation completely. In 1997, we organized the ICAHD, which was a coalition of different Israeli human right groups and the one of the first real wakening of the peace movement after the Oslo peace process. We have always worked together with Palestine organizations and local people.

Israeli government recently takes the unilateral policy to Palestine. Why has it been imposed?

Israel has never recognized and acknowledged that Palestinian people are living in this country. The Zionism has always denied another people and their rights. Until today, the idea is that the whole country, between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River, is our country, exclusively only for Jewish.

The Oslo peace process was the game. They never really negotiated with Palestinians. In the Oslo peace accords, it demanded the Palestinians to recognize Israel in 78 percent of the country, but it never recognized the rights of Palestinians. Israel seemed to be negotiating, but doubled the settlements in that period. It didn't see any connection between negotiations and what was doing on the ground. That's why the second intifada came out, because Palestinians said "What is this? We are sitting for seven years to talk to you, now there were twice the settlements than the beginning of the peace process."

We think, as Israelis, that Jews and Arabs should live together. Palestinians have rights of self-determination just like we have. We have to fight also for their rights. One of our slogans is "we refuse to be their enemies."

We are against the Israeli policy of the occupation and the displacement. If you create an apartheid situation, if you lock another people into the prison, in the end, you cannot develop a healthy, normal and prosper society. The occupation, conflict, terrorism, settlements, all affects the Israeli society and economy. As long as the occupation continues, Israel itself cannot be free.
[snip]