ICAHD UK Conference 2025

Dr Jeff Halper is ICAHD’s Director. He lives in Jerusalem and is here following his participation in the final session of the Gaza Tribunal in Istanbul.

Jeff is an anthropologist, author, and activist. He taught at universities in the US, Central America and Israel and was appointed professor while at World College. He’s the author of several books, two of which are here today: Decolonizing Israel, Liberating Palestine: Zionism, Settler Colonialism and the Case for One Democratic State and War Against the People: Israel, the Palestinians and Global Pacification.

Jeff has stood in front of Israeli bulldozers sent to demolish Palestinian homes, and over the years ICAHD has rebuilt 189 homes demolished by Israel as acts of joint resistance together with its Palestinians partners.

In 2008, Jeff participated in the first (and successful) attempt of the Free Gaza Movement to break the Israeli siege by sailing into Gaza. He has served on the United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and much more.

In 2017, Jeff Halper co-founded the One Democratic State Campaign (ODSC), a Palestinian-led initiative to formulate a one-state political program designed to replace a settler colonial Israel and its occupation with a single democracy of equal rights for everyone living between the River and the Sea, including returning Palestinian refugees.

Jeff, along with Palestinian Issa Amro (Louis Theroux film) were jointly nominated for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, Jeff’s second nomination.

Dr Nadia Nasser-Najjab lived in Kuwait as a child but when she was a teenager, her family returned to living in their village of Burqa near Nablus.  Nadia earned her undergraduate degree at Birzeit University and did her post graduate studies in the States and her doctorate at Exeter University where she is now a Senior Researcher. Nadia is the author of Dialogue in Palestine. The People to People Diplomacy Programme and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.

Mobilization in the face of normalization

Jeremy Corbyn MP has represented Islington North in Parliament since 1983.  A former leader of the Labour Party, he is involved in forming “Your Party”. Jeremy has had a distinguished career and been the recipient of numerous awards including Gandhi International Peace Award for his "consistent efforts uphold the Gandhian values of social justice and non‐violence.” Jeremy Corbyn has been advocating for the Palestinians as they seek justice and liberation longer than anyone else in the House of Commons. In September this year, Jeremy’s Peace and Justice Project hosted the Gaza Tribunal UK.

Prof Avi Shlaim is a British Israeli historian - Emeritus Fellow of St Antony’s College and a former Professor of International Relations at the University of Oxford. He was elected Fellow of the British Academy in 2006. Of his many books, his most recently published book is Three Worlds: Memoirs of an Arab-Jew (2023) which won the 2024 PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize for the best non-fiction on any historical subject. Avi Shlaim is involved with the newly launched Britain Owes Palestine campaign.

Peter Frankental is the Economic Affairs Programme Director of Amnesty International UK. He previously worked in the private sector, the NHS and the not-for-profit-sector. He has undertaken postgraduate studies at the London School of Economics, the Institute of Latin American Studies, and the Institute of Commonwealth Studies.

Peter has been an adviser to the International Commission of Jurists panel on corporate complicity in international crimes and was on the Steering Group of a three-year research project to develop a methodology for human rights impact assessments and apply it to five case studies of affected communities.  He has served on the Boards of several NGOs including the Corporate Responsibility Coalition (CORE), the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre and London Mining Network. Peter is co-founder of an organisation ‘Hear Me Out’ that takes music-making into UK immigrations detention centres to release the words, music and life stories of people held inside.

Rev Dr Simon Woodman is the Minister of Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church and the Baptist Chaplain of King’s College London. Previously he lectured at Cardiff University and was a tutor and acting principal at South Wales Baptist College. Simon is not afraid to mix politics with theology and to push boundaries. He champions radical values and inclusivity while collaborating and engaging widely to bring about transformation.

Bruno Sorrentino is a UK-based documentary filmmaker. He began his career at the BBC in the 1970s as a film editor and has become a multi-award-winning Series Director, Producer and Director of Photography, working in UK & US TV, with credits across all factual television genres. Bruno also has extensive experience in producing immersive documentaries throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America, focusing on environment, development and human rights issues. Bruno made the documentary Sumud – Rooted in the West Bank which was produced by Uri Fruchtmann and shown multiple times on Al-Jazeera. It tells the story of Palestinian Atta Jaber and the long-term relationship with Jeff Halper and ICAHD.