Jeff Halper, recently returned from a two-week tour of Norway, Switzerland & Germany, which is part of his advocacy work offering political updates to international audiences and opportunities to strategize with activists. Here he reports on what happened and he also writes about being in Sarajevo for another session of the Gaza Tribunal where he is a member of Chamber Three: History, Ethics and Philosophy.
The tour began in Oslo, where I was joined by Issa Amro, who is the courageous leader of Youth Against Settlements in Hebron, on the front lines of the Palestinian struggle. Issa and I were nominated this year for the Nobel Peace Prize by the Palestinian Solidarity Committee of Norway by way of Ingrid Fiskaa, an MP of the Socialist Left Party. In Oslo we met with members of parliament, gave several public lectures and met with local activists, then travelled to Stavanger for another public event and a meeting with Palestinian students at the university.
Taking leave of Issa, I continued on to Zurich, and then on to Germany; Munich, Mannheim (where I spoke in a public square), Stuttgart, Bremen, Hanover (where I spoke at the Global Kairos Conference), Bonn, Darmstadt, Hamburg (where my talk at the university was sponsored by the Palestinian student organization) and Berlin. Thirteen cities in 15 days!
I find these trips abroad important, partly because there is a disconnect between the mass mobilization against the genocide in Gaza that calls for Palestinian rights abroad and the Palestinian fighters and political activists in Palestine itself, including their anti-colonial Israeli partners. Israeli suppression of Palestinian resisters is so violent and suffocating – accompanied by additional arrests, killing and repression of political activists by the collaborationist Palestinian Authority – that it limits greatly their ability to give leadership to internationals who campaign on behalf of Palestine.
Because of this, groups abroad do not coordinate their agendas or activities with Palestinians (the BDS movement being an exception, though it stays away from advocating for a political program). In my joint capacity as the head of ICAHD, an Israeli political organization, and a member of the Palestinian-led One Democratic State Campaign, I try to bridge that disconnect, presenting whenever possible with Palestinians like Issa.
After a short time back home in Jerusalem, I travelled to Sarajevo for the preparatory meeting of the International Tribunal on Gaza, convened by international human rights lawyers, academics and political activists (I straddle the last two) to hold Israel accountable for its genocidal actions and policies.
The Gaza Tribunal has no legal standing unlike the ICJ, but it does have the ability to present a compelling case against Israel that can be used by human rights and political advocates. Also, while the ICJ confines itself to legalistic procedures, the Gaza Tribunal highlights Israel’s violations of international law as key political elements of its genocidal aims. Since enforcement of ICJ rulings or UN resolutions depends on the political will of the Security Council, which does not exist because of the veto power, the Gaza Tribunal is an effort to close this enforcement gap by exerting civil society pressure on governments to act.
For more information on the Gaza Tribunal, see https://gazatribunal.com. Read the Sarajevo Declaration of the Gaza Tribunal and find all the evidence and testimonies presented during this session. The final hearing of the Gaza Tribunal will be held in Istanbul in October when civil society will be given greater accreditation for our position in this struggle so that governments can finally be called to account.
Jeff introduced his talk by stating that it is not enough to mobilize civil society to demonstrate solidarity with Palestinians. Activists must know what the problems are so they can advocate in the halls of power and on the media in an articulate way, explaining what the root causes are so that the logic of what is happening in Gaza is understood. While the human and environmental tragedy of Gaza must remain at the center of our attention and actions, we cannot neglect the political process of Zionist colonization of which it is a part - or the need to double our political as well as legal and popular struggles against it.