Jeff Halper’s September 2026 Update – The Marginalisation of Palestinians
In Jeff Halper’s September update, he reflects on the history of the Palestinian people that has seen them time and again being marginalised without a patron or other institutional support to stand with them in their struggle to resist the Zionists who have sought Palestinian displacement and claimed their land. Jeff highlights three historic moments when the Palestinians were left on their own to fight their cause – around the time of the Balfour Declaration, during the Great Arab Revolt and then during the Oslo Peace Process. He contrasts this with the support that Israel has had from Britain, Arab nations and then the United States. Yet, despite the heavy cost, Palestinians have been able to keep their struggle alive.
Israel has believed that it could achieve its objectives using military might to overcome those it deems its enemies. However, with what has unfolded with Iran, this has backfired on Israel. The Gulf states are withdrawing their support for the Abraham Accords because Israel’s military actions have destabilised the Middle East. Instead, they are turning to China and the STEP project that involves Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt and Pakistan, thus isolating Israel.
There can be no normalisation between Israel and the Arab States without resolving the Palestinian issue and this time round, internationals can play a role so that the Palestinians no longer feel marginalised. Jeff presents some ideas.
Stay connected to Palestinian partners on the ground whom you already know so they do not feel marginalised.
Widen your circle of Palestinian contacts to include voices of those who are not currently being heard.
Facilitate strategic links between professional organisations, i.e. Palestinian farmers with farmers unions from different countries.
Provide safe spaces where Palestinians, now so fragmented from one another, can gather to get to meet and dialogue about what they want.
Jeff ends by asking that we campaign to get a UN Protection Force put into place as soon as possible.
Jeff Halper’s July 2026 Update: What You Need to Know about Israel Today
Speaking from Jerusalem, Jeff provides insight into what is happening within Israel. Some people say that Israel is on the brink of collapse, but this is a dangerous illusion. Although there are internal problems which have made Israel vulnerable, without a plan and with no political programme in place, collapse would be disastrous for Palestinians.
Jeff reminds us of the importance of anti-colonial Jews who are working with their Palestinian partners in finding liberation. Do not expect Israel with its settler colonial agenda to voluntarily change its system from the inside.
We must understand that Israel is not ephemeral; Jews will not simply disappear. Not all Israeli Jews have a second passport, so much of the population won’t be leaving.
Jeff refers to the three factors identified by Ghassan Kanafani that resulted in the defeat of Palestinian resistance during the Arab Revolt in 1936 – 1939 and how these factors still apply today. Israel established relationships that serve the hegemons; created Palestinian collaborators and encouraged complicity from corrupt and autocratic Arab leaders.
The Israeli parliament is super right wing, and since October 7th, the younger generation has become even more right wing, militant and religious than their parents and grandparents.
Netanyahu cannot provide a vision for the future and because people are fed up with him, it is likely that he will be gone following the October elections. However, the next government will still be on the right with the next prime minister predicted to be the rising star Gadi Eisenkot, a vicious military criminal.
Jeff Halper’s June 2026 Update: Being Effective - Challenge Israel's Settler Colonial Agenda
Everything must be put within Israel’s settler colonial agenda because there is a logic to it that then helps us understand what is happening on the ground today. However, this settler colonial framing is rarely used, nor does it seem to be taken seriously.
Three stages of settler colonialism: Judaization, pacification and normalization
Not only are there the established illegal settlements but there are now 250 illegal outposts where the government has provided infrastructure, weapons and vehicles enabling the settlers to terrorize the Palestinians. It is all part of Israel’s Judaization of Palestine that is pushing the Palestinians off their land.
Pacification continues not only in the Jordan Valley, Masafer Yatta and Gaza but also in Iran and Lebanon where Israel seeks to break all forms of resistance so it can be the military hegemon in the region.
The Abraham Accords have not gone away as Israel and US continue the normalization process not only within historic Palestine, but which is even spreading into the Muslim countries. Israel doesn’t need everyone to join the Accords but to be “Israel friendly”.
View Jeff’s update to understand what is happening and why the Palestinians are stuck in a paralysis. Jeff goes on to suggest four new campaigns to help us be more effective and strategic. As always, Palestinians need to be at the center of what we are doing and leading the way so how can they be empowered?
Jeff Halper’s May 2026 Update: In the field with Atta Jaber
This month finds Jeff Halper speaking from the Baq’a Valley across from the Kiryat Arba settlement, Hebron, where he is with his friend of nearly thirty years, Atta Jaber. They stand together on what was his last remaining strip of land now cleared of his grapevines because the Israeli highway is being expanded onto it.
Atta describes the pain in his heart. He is rooted to the land but now it is being taken by the state of Israel in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. He said that despite this loss, even if left with just one percent, they like other Palestinians, will not leave – this is their sumud. Because the sun rises each day, they have hope of a better day coming to Palestine.
When Jeff asked Atta what internationals should do, his reply was to keep active on their behalf – with the demonstrations, going to parliaments, and boycotting. Knowing what internationals are doing gives them happiness and the soul and spirit to continue. The recording ends with a call to visit Palestine – and Atta Jaber.
Jeff Halper’s April 2026 Update: Zionist Pacification from Gaza to Iran
In the April update, Jeff Halper describes how the wars on Iran and Lebanon are part of re-fashioning the Middle East in line with Israel’s Zionist agenda. Israel is trying to pacify Iran and Hezbollah, the last strongholds supporting Palestinian resistance against Israel’s settler colonial position. Within that framework, what is happening makes sense because it is part of Israel’s normalization process as it transforms Arab Palestine into the Jewish state of Greater Israel. Jeff shows several maps to illustrate this process and how so many Muslim states have normalized their relationship with Israel and embraced the Abraham Accords. Jeff ends by listing the six urgent tasks before us.
Jeff Halper’s March 2026 Update
In his March 2026 update, Jeff addressed the Israeli-American assault on Iran on several levels. First, he warned that the American and Israeli unilateralism behind the illegal attack on Iran, its disregard for and contempt of the requirements to work through the UN and the rules-based international system, weak as it is, poses an existential threat to all of us. All authoritarian regimes, which constitute the vast majority of the world’s governments, seek to remove the legal constraints on their repressive agendas, whether towards their own peoples or towards other countries. The American and Israel attack validates and promotes the emergence of a new authoritarian international regime that strips us all of any legal protections against massive governmental, military and police repression.
In terms of the Palestinians, the end of a rules-based system removes the protections afforded them by international law. Neutralizing the UN opens the way for corporate colonisation as manifested in Trump’s Board of Peace, which has denied the Palestinians of Gaza any say in determining their own future.
Jeff then went on to discuss Israel’s aims in the assault on Iran and subsequently Hezbollah, a continuation of its genocidal assault on Hamas and other sources of resistance in Gaza and the West Bank. These interrelated attacks, he argued, are intended to pacify the last holdouts to normalising a “Greater” Israel, to eliminate the last vestiges of effective resistance. That being accomplished, nothing stands in the way of normalising Israel’s colonial control over Palestine with the Arab and Muslim world and beyond, locking the Palestinians into non-viable enclaves on 8-15% of their homeland.
Finally, Jeff asks: How to effectively advocate for Palestinian rights in a transactional world in which the Palestinian issue is marginal at best. He suggests continuing what we’re doing to keep Palestine on the political map; launching an international Campaign Against Normalizing Israeli Apartheid; returning to the Arab Peace Initiative; and working to empower the Palestinians in Palestine as they endeavor to forge a political programme and revive their national liberation organisation.
Jeff Halper’s February 2026 Update – This Week’s Dramatic Developments
Within the last few days, there have been dramatic developments in the Palestinian struggle for liberation, therefore it is impossible to capture the significance of what has happened within a short 20-minute summary. This month, we hope you can spare 48 minutes to view Jeff Halper’s engaging update as he speaks from Jerusalem.
All those involved in the Palestinian struggle for liberation must understand that the issues are complex and we must have the analysis and understanding at hand to help create a political programme that is relevant and what the Palestinians need.
Strategies must be identified that will monitor and then fight back against Trump’s Peace Plan in Gaza which is nothing more than “colonization for profit” where Trump’s organisation, Arab and European real estate people and Israel make the money and keep control. With the coastline turned over to tourism, Palestinians will be relegated to restricted areas in the “back of Gaza” near the border with Israel.
Israel’s “Gazafication” of the West Bank is spreading from the north of the West Bank where it is breaking Palestinian resistance. More than 40,000 Palestinians have already been displaced, and 50 shepherding communities have disappeared to make room for 40 new settler outposts. Recently, Israel carried out a major military operation in Hebron.
To get round the law as defined in the Fourth Geneva Convention, this week the Israeli cabinet decided to allow its civil administration that governs the West Bank to use its military government to open the West Bank to the real estate market that will allow settlers to purchase Palestinian land. In addition, Israel will take over further Palestinian land through the guise of archaeology and environmental controls, and more is planned even within Areas A and B and as Israel takes over religious sites within the Hebron and Bethlehem municipalities.
In the update, Jeff displays a map from Israel’s Ministry of Defence that shows its plans to leave Palestinians with even less than10% of Palestine in an apartheid state.
But it is not over yet. Jeff concludes with suggestions about ways to address what is happening on the ground. We all need to be doing more than what we are already doing.
Jeff Halper's January 2026 update - Ten Minutes to Midnight
ICAHD has always been a big-picture, anti-Zionist organisation that seeks to make a genuine contribution to the decolonisation of Palestine. We seek to be a political actor but right now there is not enough discussion about where we are in the struggle and what needs to be done to end it.
Considering the four stages of settler colonialism, (invasion, Judaization, pacification and normalization), with the Abraham Accords being implemented we are now in the end game. Ethnic cleansing is even happening in Area B in addition to Area C with Israel about to achieve its objectives in taking 85% of historic Palestine for itself.
Although there is much mobilization with good things happening with global support having exceeded what happened to end apartheid in South Africa, not enough is being done with urgency. In addition, what is lacking is the political programme, organisation and strategy that only Palestinians can provide. This is because with Israel’s totalitarian control, fragmentation and surveillance, it is not possible for Palestinians to meet.
Jeff calls for Palestinians to be empowered and suggests internationals help them find spaces to meet. Importantly, as well as funding for this, governments must make sure that the Palestinians are kept safe and not imprisoned or killed.
We are now at “ten minutes to midnight”. This is the year that is liable to be the “end game” in the Palestinian struggle so we must rise to the challenge.
Jeff Halper's December 2025 Update – The Political Lull
In November, the UN’s Security Council ratified Trump’s Peace Plan for Gaza. It makes permanent Israel’s settler colonial agenda in Gaza and dismantles the Palestinian struggle for liberation. With Hamas returning the hostages except for one body and the Israeli political prisoners, Hamas has now given up all the political leverage it had. In the meantime, Israel still holds nearly 10,000 Palestinians who are held in inhumane conditions in its prisons. We are seeing how Israel does not respect the conditions of the ceasefire, and that it is happening because the US has granted Israel permission to carry on as it wishes. Phase Two of the ceasefire agreement will continue the pacification of the Palestinians with no ability to resist, all to Israel’s benefit. In addition, there is no mention of a political framework for Gaza’s future.
Within the West Bank, the Judaization process has been ramped up. The Israeli government continues its silence as it allows the violent settlers to terrorize the Palestinians, especially the farmers and shepherds in Area C. Large tracks of land have already been taken.
Jeff suggests the following actions:
- Launch a campaign against normalization and two-state apartheid.
- Demand the UN send a protection force into the West Bank and with more visits from international civil society to help prevent despair amongst Palestinians.
- Work should progress on a political horizon. For him this means one democratic state.
- Improve coordination between international organisations with Palestinians on the ground identifying what they need.
Jeff Halper's November 2025 Update – Normalization, the Greatest Threat to Palestinians since the Nakba
In his November update, Jeff Halper continues to place where we are in our struggle for Palestinian rights into the wider perspective. Jeff explains how we are currently at a stage between the pacification of Palestinian resistance and normalization.
Normalization is the process by which settler colonialism wins. The whole area between the Mediterranean and the River Jordan will simply by perceived as Israel. When you buy a ticket from the travel agent it will be to Israel, tour guides in, for example, Bethlehem and Hebron will be Israeli – there will be Hebrew names all around and highways will be Israeli. Palestinians will still be there but hard to find, locked away in small enclaves accessible via smaller roads behind the Israeli settlements and highways. You would need to specifically intend to visit to encounter Palestinians. To all intents and purposes, the image of the country would be one of Israel.
Jeff explains how Trump’s Abraham Accords provide a route map to this normalization. The so-called Two State solution envisaged by Trump is actually two-state apartheid with Palestinians relegated to living in small, disconnected Bantustans occupying about 15% of the country. The rest of the world would consider the situation resolved, normalised, and would move on. This represents the greatest threat to the Palestinians since the Nakba.
ICAHD has prepared a two-page flier on what the two state solution would really mean – this is available at https://icahd.org/2025/11/18/normalization-the-greatest-threat-to-the-palestinians-since-the-nakba/. We have to continue to raise awareness of where this process ends and our immediate goal should be to stop the process of normalization. The international movement that we are part of has a critical role to play – the ICAHD website (icahd.org) contains many invaluable materials and analysis to help equip you for the struggle.
Jeff Halper's October 2025 Update –Commemorating the second anniversary of October 7th
s the second anniversary of the Hamas attack is marked and the subsequent genocide that it generated, Jeff evaluates where we are in the political struggle.
This situation is filled with complexities and emotions, and we recognize the human element of suffering which is very important in our work. Nevertheless, Jeff explains why it is still crucial to keep a political focus.
Jeff begins by dissecting what happened in October 2023. Initially Jeff admired the ability by Hamas to break out of Gaza based on the right under international law for there to be military resistance to the 130 years of settler colonialism, the occupation since 1967 and Gazans living under siege for 15 years. However, discipline was not maintained, and it soon became chaotic with Israeli civilians killed. Hamas breaking out of Gaza was identified as a massacre, a war crime and an act of terrorism. But Israel’s retaliation has resulted in a genocide against the Palestinians thus what Hamas did on October 7th has become counterproductive. Nevertheless, we cannot allow Gaza to be an issue on its own and let Israel return to all that it is doing in the West Bank after Gaza dies down.
From 11.10 – 28.28 minutes, Jeff reviews the five political processes that are happening today:
- The Gaza Peace Plan – but with the Palestinians sidelined.
- Trump’s vision for peace – resulting in two-state apartheid.
- The Abraham Accords - leading to “normalization” with Israel, the colonial power, left in control.
- The UN’s recognition of the Palestinian state – what kind of state and where are the borders?
- Israel becoming the co-hegemon of the Middle East with Saudi Arabia – with no pushback from the BRIC countries.
During the last four minutes of the update, Jeff speaks of ICAHD’s support for the Global Sumud Flotilla, encourages internationals to participate in our forthcoming November study tour to engage with Palestinians and critical Israelis, and to meet him while he is in the UK for the public events at the end of October and at the ICAHD UK conference on 1st November.
Jeff Halper's September 2025 Update – Netanyahu’s Plan for Total Victory
ICAHD’s Jeff Halper speaks about Netanyahu’s desire for political survival thus his war on Gaza must continue despite most of the Israeli public wanting it to end. Netanyahu’s plan for total victory includes the erasure of all Palestinians with not one Hamas fighter left alive.
At the beginning of September, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich revealed his plan to take 82% of the West Bank, an increase which will result in Israel possessing 90% of historic Palestine.
When the UN General Assembly meets in Geneva on 23rd September, if there is a vote for Palestinian statehood, the borders must be identified otherwise their new state will consist of small, disconnected Bantustans like prison cells with them living under a super-apartheid regime.
However, Jeff starts with providing a summary of ICAHD’s pioneering groundbreaking work with Palestinian partners over nearly thirty years. He calls for support of our Sumud Project to keep Palestinians on their land and how Palestinians are desperate for internationals to visit them hence his call for people to join the forthcoming November study tour. And he announced that in addition to his participation in the Gaza Tribunals, he will be speaking at The Hague for the People's Tribunal Against Benjamin Netanyahu.
Alert: On 6th September the Israeli army visited Atta and Rudina Jaber and all the other homes in the Bakka Valley across from Kiryat Arba, Hebron. Photos were taken of each Palestinian and their respective documents. This is because Smotrich is preparing to demolish the entire area.
Jeff Halper's August 2025 Update – Don't Miss the Train
ICAHD’s director, Jeff Halper, warns that with so much of our energy directed towards our protesting over the terrible atrocities committed by Israel, without understanding where all this going, we could “miss the train” and find that the Judaization of Palestine is completed.
Jeff begins by reminding us of the four stages of settler colonialism and how we are on the cusp of moving into the final stage that will see the creation of a Palestinian state that will be nothing more than Bantustans. He refers to the recent UN conference on the two-state solution that came out with the New York Declaration that summarized its conclusions. If you read the 42 items, only number 19 refers to where this Palestinian state might be. There is nothing about decolonization so basically, it will leave Israel as the strong power, continuing its control.
He calls for this fraud to be exposed and for the urgent need of an international coordinating committee led by Palestinians in a campaign against normalization and two-state apartheid.
Within Jeff’s update, he also speaks about his friend Awdah Hathaleen who was killed by Yinon Levi, the extreme religious settler who has since been released by Israeli authorities and has been back in Um Al-Khair as Levi continues to terrorize its residents.
Jeff Halper's July 2025 Update – We're in the End Game
This update was recorded on Wednesday morning, 9th July, while Benjamin Netanyahu was in Washington DC meeting with Donald Trump. The previous day, Israel announced that it was creating a “humanitarian city” in Gaza where Palestinians would gather before being offered the opportunity to move elsewhere because Gaza is now uninhabitable. However, in reality this is the creation of a concentration camp to hold the Gazans in transit before being forcibly displaced to other countries.
As we quite rightly focus our attention on Gaza and monitor the daily atrocities, we must understand that Gaza is a phase in what is now the end game of Israel’s settler colonial agenda as it replaces the indigenous Palestinian population with the Israeli Jewish population.
Israel has criminalized Palestinian resistance and violently suppresses it in Gaza as well as in the West Bank, especially in the north where currently the refugee camps are being demolished, and tens of thousands of Palestinians are forcibly displaced.
Settler colonialism always involves genocide and ends by “normalizing” the facts on the ground which Israel has done with support from the United States and the Arab states.
Netanyahu’s meetings with Trump have been revealing because when Trump was asked about his solution to Israel/Palestine, he repeatedly turned to Netanyahu thus Netanyahu is the one who will decide the end game and what happens to the Palestinians.
As a matter of urgency, Jeff calls for coordination with other organisations who will step up to look at the “big picture” connecting the dots of where we are today and to work out how we should move forward with our Palestinian partners.
The update concludes with Jeff announcing that from now on we will simply be known as ICAHD because we are removing “Israeli” from our name.
See Jeff's May update for further information on the threat of normalization.
Jeff Halper's June 2025 – Defeating Israel’s Settler Colonialism
Jeff Halper presents his June 2025 update on the "situation " in Palestine/Israel. ICAHD, the organization that Jeff leads in Israel, has always been political. ICAHD has long resisted Zionist colonization "on the ground" with our Palestinian partners especially when working together regarding Israel’s demolition of Palestinian homes. But on a higher political level, ICAHD is dedicated to the decolonization of Palestine, replacing Israel and its occupation with a civil democracy offering equal rights to all its citizens, enabling the return of the refugees, pursuing land redistribution and other forms of political, economic and social redress, and ushering in a new, shared post-colonial society.
ICAHD, however, stands relatively isolated in its political work. As Jeff lays out in his update, neither the Palestinians (since the rise of the collaborationist and repressive Palestinian Authority) nor the Israeli peace camp nor our international supporters have risen to the level of an effective political movement mobilized behind a political program. We are simply not part of the political game.
Jeff opens his update by discussing where we stand in the struggle against the Zionist settler colonial project and for Palestinian rights that includes a just and shared post-colonial future. He then goes on to suggest ways to address the political shortcomings.
At 25 minutes, this update is long but the struggle in which we are engaged is complex and requires analysis and strategy. We cannot communicate in soundbites. We hope you find Jeff’s presentation useful as he tried to present the Big Picture and that you will then please circulate it to your networks.
Jeff Halper's May 2025 Update on The Threat of Normalization
On Monday, 12th May, US President Donald Trump is due to arrive in Saudi Arabia for meetings with it and other Gulf States. His visit to the Middle East will also have him in Qatar and Abu Dhabi in the UAE.
This is a momentous time because the future of Israel/Palestine will be decided as the process towards normalization progresses.
Jeff unpacks Trump's vision of normalization and the two-state solution. However, this solution is a trap for the Palestinians who are being excluded from the discussions. Jeff predicts that the result will be Palestinians locked into a situation of two-state apartheid.
He asks if anyone is taking notice of the map and studying the details because organisations, and even Palestinians, are not picking up on the political implications of what is happening.
Jeff Halper's April 2025 Update - Techno-Fascism in Palestine
This month Jeff Halper defines the situation in Palestine/Israel as a settler-colonial struggle not a conflict between two equal parties.
Jeff notes that there is currently no effective political process going on. We are moving from neo-liberalism into what he describes as ‘techno-fascism’, where everything is transactional, based on deals. This is clearly seen with the current US administration but also in other parts of the world. There are effectively no markets but a corporate state.
This techno-fascism makes it very difficult for the Palestinians, and other oppressed people, to move forward. Trump sees Gaza simply as a piece of real estate to be used for economic gain and is looking for a way to pacify the Palestinian people.
Jeff goes on to look at how we can help Palestinians to move forward politically. He describes how ICAHD is closely aligned with the Palestinian-led One Democratic State Campaign, with equal rights for all people living in Palestine/Israel. Support for One Democratic State is slowly building among Palestinians and international advocacy is important in keeping Palestine on the map, giving time for Palestinians to come together and reinforcing the settler-colonial nature of Zionism.
Jeff stresses that reframing terminology is important. The situation in Palestine/Israel is not a ‘conflict’ between two equal parties but a settler-colonial struggle. Jeff’s book ‘Decolonizing Israel, Liberating Palestine’ looks at this in detail. The way forward is not through conflict but through de-colonisation, creating a new playing field with equal rights for all in Palestine/Israel.
Jeff Halper's March 2025 Update - The Missing Piece of Our Work
Speaking from Jerusalem, Jeff Halper began his March update with a recap of the current situation. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to continue the war in Gaza, but President Donald Trump is now by-passing him with the US speaking directly to Hamas as a deal is pursued. The Israeli hostage families are well organised and want to move on to Stage 2.
Jeff reviewed the three processes that Israel is using to complete its settler colonial agenda and then he proceeded to spell out the elements needed to mobilize the masses in ways that will provide space for Palestinians to organise so they can develop strategies to lead their struggle for liberation.
Due to severe suppression of the Palestinians both in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) and within the state of Israel, Palestinians do not have the space to organise their movement.
Jeff challenges internationals to assist the Palestinian struggle by:
- Calling for enforcement of the ICJ and UN resolutions on Israel’s violations of international law. If they were enforced, the Occupation would immediately collapse.
- Insisting that the UN take over the administration of the Occupied Territory with help from the Palestinian Authority.
- Stipulating that a UN protection force is sent in to protect the Palestinians.
He ended the March update saying that there should be regional coordination committees around the world modelled after what the European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine (ECCP) is doing in Brussels and for the resumption of the international coordinating committee on Palestine that used to be based in Geneva.
Jeff Halper's February 2025 Update - Normalization: the immediate danger facing the Palestinians
In Jeff Halper’s February update he unpacks the meaning of “normalization” in the Zionists’ settler colonial project. Three elements have been required in order for historic Palestine to be transformed into Israel. The first one involved the violent take-over of another people’s country and moving in a population from elsewhere. Secondly, the indigenous population has had to be pacified with the last bastions of resistance eliminated. Thirdly, the situation is “normalized” without the Palestinians involved in negotiations, ending with them locked into just 15% of their original homeland existing under two-state apartheid.
Watch this recording to understand why this is such a perilous time for the Palestinian people and why our solidarity in mobilizing against two-state apartheid is urgently needed.
Jeff Halper's January 2025 Update - The Perilous Phase for Palestinians as Trump Comes into Power
Since Donald Trump won the US election in November 2024, Jeff Halper has spoken about how Trump will seek to “normalize" the situation in the Middle East. That means no more war and the implementation of the Abraham Accords. A Palestinian state will be created but it will be an apartheid state under Israel’s regime that will lock Palestinians into permanent bantustans.
In his January update, Jeff identifies three developments as we enter into next (Trump) phase:
- Fighting in Gaza will end and it will disappear as an issue, reduced to a “humanitarian crisis”
- Ethnic cleansing will be completed in the West Bank, including taking parts of Area B, reducing the size of the Palestinian Bantustan
- The normalization process will be completed, including with Saudi Arabia. The Palestinian issue will be marginalized under two-state apartheid.
Jeff lists these three political challenges as we move ahead the Palestinian issue:
- Alliance of two settler colonial states against Palestinians: US & Israel
- Transactional international system immune to pressures
- The wider rise of racism and fascism, especially against Arabs/Palestinians
He ended by listing the four things we must do at this perilous time:
- Establish a UN protection force for Palestinians
- Launch a Campaign Against Two-State Apartheid
- Replace the Palestinian Authority (PA) with a new PLO and leadership
- Work to make Democratic Party in US an anti-transactional political force
Jeff Halper's December 2024 Update - Trump, Israel and Saudi Arabia normalization
Donald Trump’s election is devastating for the Palestinians. As he takes office, he will seek to “normalize" the situation in the Middle East. That means no more war and the implementation of the Abraham Accords. A Palestinian state will be created but it will be an apartheid state under Israel’s regime that will lock Palestinians into permanent bantustans. We must know the details of what is expected and be the watchdogs to help prevent this disaster.
Jeff Halper's November 2024 Update - What does the election of Donald Trump mean for the Palestinians?
Donald Trump will return to the role of US president with absolute power to push through his ultimate deals as he puts America first.
He represents “transactionalism” which is all to do with deals and is the opposite of a rules-based moral order. It holds no values, no ideology – just winning deals – and Israel has much to offer like with security surveillance, military armaments, control of vital geographic Middle East regions.
Trump wants to complete the Abrahamic Accords, with Saudi Arabiya as the “jewel in the crown”, that will “normalize” Israel on all of historic Palestine.
View the recording to find out how we can push-back against this to stop the elimination of the Palestinian people.
Jeff Halper's October 2024 Update - Speaking from the UK
Jeff Halper has just arrived in the UK where he is embarking on an extensive programme over the next three weeks. In the recording, Jeff sits with Linda Ramsden, ICAHD UK’s Director, who outlines his activities while here and how important it is to be part of strategic campaigns that will help to bring peace of the Middle East.
Jeff goes on to mention how “global Palestine” means more than Palestine itself. This is about the struggle of the people of the Middle East to free themselves from imperial powers and neo-liberal imperialism.
This is an historical moment which has Israel on the cusp of normalizing its routine over the Palestinians. International civil society must facilitate ways to help bring Palestinians together so they can lead the way in their liberation.
Jeff Halper's September 2024 Update - Israel's genocide is no longer central
Israel’s genocide in Gaza continues however it is no longer the central issue in the news. Focus has shifted to the six Israeli hostages that were found dead in Gaza (on 1st September) and the huge demonstrations within Israel that have happened since then that call for the release of all the remaining hostages. Seventy percent of the Jewish Israeli population support what Israel continues to do in Gaza even though the army does not want to be there and says that it accomplished its military objectives there months ago. Our job is to re-focus attention to the genocide and what is happening in the West Bank. A re-framing is needed because this is not about Israel’s need to defend itself. This is Israel pursuing its settler colonial agenda. Under international law, Palestinians have every right to defend themselves as they fight for their own rights.
Jeff Halper's August 2024 Update - At this time of waiting, what is the international agenda?
For the last couple of weeks, Jeff, like the rest of the world, has been waiting to see whether there would be retaliation from Iran over Israel’s assassination of Ismail Haniyah in Tehran and of Fuad Shukr in Beirut which Hezbollah says it will avenge.
Jeff reckons that this has not yet happened because Iran and Hezbollah want to support Hamas as a peace deal is agreed so they do not want to mess things up for Hamas.
Meanwhile the genocide in Gaza continues with no let-up despite the Israeli army (Gallant) saying that the military objectives have been achieved.
Jeff goes on to speak about Netanyahu’s personal objectives and that according to the speech given by Kamala Harris at the Democratic convention, there is no change in US policy.
Even though the hollowness of the world that we live in has been exposed, we continue to drift without direction. However, what is strong is the arms industry which is worth more than a trillion dollars a year.
Jeff Halper's July 2024 Update
For July’s monthly update, ICAHD’s Jeff Halper speaks to us from northern Minnesota where he is completing a speaking tour to cities in parts of Canada and Minnesota. He has been encouraged by the interest in Palestine that there is from the crowds of people who have come to hear him speak. Many of the meetings have been in churches but also at universities where there are still encampments.
Jeff spoke not only about Gaza but also of the suppression of the Palestinians living in the West Bank as well as within the state of Israel itself where their voices are also being silenced.
Palestinians living in the diaspora remain connected to their families on the ground however there is detachment and no united Palestinian voice who can join them together presenting a political programme to harness the great support from the world community to the Palestinian cause for justice and liberation.
The work of the Palestine Youth Movement (PYM) is trying to connect the Palestinians from the diaspora with Palestinians on the ground. Jeff brainstormed with PYM representatives on ideas for mobilization. One idea is to get a nucleus of Palestinians from around the world to come together for a week to get to know each other and to talk together on strategic ways to advance the Palestinian struggle.
Jeff Halper's June 2024 Update
In Jeff Halper’s June video update, he speaks about Israel’s rescue of the hostages that happened on 8th June and the nature of what is going on in Gaza.
Jeff explains that under international law, it is illegal to hold civilian captives however under the laws of war, it is permitted to hold soldiers. Attention is not given to the hundreds of Palestinians, including children, that Israel is holding hostage under administrative detention without charge.
The rescue of the four Israeli hostages was planned months in advance and within Israel is portrayed as a historic event. Israel knew that Hamas would not expect an attack in the middle of the day within a busy market in the middle of a crowded refugee camp. Israel knew that there would be massive destruction and that Palestinian civilians would be killed and injured in the process. However, this operation was a war crime and should be recognized as such.
Historically, Israel itself created conditions in Gaza where Palestinians would have to resist but now Gazans are conflicted about whether the Hamas resistance is worth the price that they are having to pay. The choice is to resist permanent apartheid, oppression and genocide or preserving your family, home and community.
We must understand that genocide is built into any settler colonial agenda. Israel has long de-humanized the Palestinians and criminalizes their resistance. Therefore, we must explain the logic of Palestinian resistance.
Jeff Halper's May 2024 Update
In his May update, Jeff Halper considers the beginning of the Israeli invasion of Rafah which has led to the renewed displacement of some 350,000 Palestinians. This has resulted in an increase in protests, particularly amoung young people, with student protests streading from the United States into Europe, Latin America and the Arab world. Some of the protests have been met with violent actions by law enforcement, becoming a focus to shift public opinion and subsequently, potential government shifts as well.
In the short- to medium-term, the major issue facing us is normalisation of relationships between Israel and the international community as soon as the fighting ends, a process in which the Palestinians will be sacrificed. Jeff discusses the large-scale geopolitical situation. Normalisation leads to the international acceptance of the Israeli aparthed state with Palestinians limited to small 'islands' in Areas A and B and in Gaza, the latter being essentially uninhabitable. Biden has already announced that the Palestinian Authority will receive $26 billlion and other sweeteners if they sign off on this 'deal', allowing normalisation to continue, which, Jeff argies, is the death knell for the Palestinians. There will be an apartheid two party state with Palestinians locked into small bantustans.
This has to come into our calculations in terms of protest and speaking out, Jeff ending by considering the possible response of the international activist community.
Details are availlble here - Watch the video here
Jeff Halper's April 2024 Update
It’s a time of chaos; everything has turned over in the wake of the Gaza war; Israel can’t be “put back together again”. These are just some of the comments from Jeff Halper in his April update.
Jeff says that Israel’s invasion of Gaza has gone out of control and he doubts that this time even the international donors will rush to rebuild it again for fear of yet more Israeli demolitions in the future.
Israel won’t be able to destroy Hamas which is now more popular than Fatah within the West Bank because what Hamas did on 7th October was to put the Palestinians back on the agenda after Netanyahu, Biden and western hegemony tried to erase them.
This and much more is addressed by ICAHD's Jeff Halper.
Details are availlble here - Watch the video here
Jeff Halper's March 2024 Update with Atta Jaber
Details are availlble here - Watch the video here
Jeff Halper's February 2024 Update on challenging Two-State Apartheid
Jeff Halper's January 2024 Update on the Geneva Convention
A written summary of this update is available here.
Jeff Halper's November 2023 Update
In Jeff Halper’s November update, he says that while the world’s eyes are on the violent atrocities in Gaza, ICAHD is also watching what is currently happening within the West Bank and asking what it means. ICAHD believes that what Israel is pursuing there is even more important politically as we believe this ethnic cleansing of Area C is its final battle in Israel consolidating its apartheid regime.
Jeff believes that the international community has approved of the matrix that Israel has imposed over the Palestinian people and this what will be accepted as the new Palestinian state when Biden convenes an international conference to impose the two-state solution. The “pesky” Palestinians can’t be allowed to interfere with the new Nato of the Middle East.
The November recording ends with a warning of in the guise of humanitarian aid, countries call for Gazans to be re-housed in countries around the world. However this would in fact be another Nakba for the Palestinian people. That proposed by the One Democratic State Campaign is the only just way forward
ICAHD Statement calling on Israel to stop its genocide against the Palestinian people - Jeff Halper
Statement issued by ICAHD on 2 November 2023.
Jeff Halper's October 2023 Update
Jeff Halper’s monthly update on events and political developments in Palestine/Israel. While we at ICAHD place great importance on critical analysis in finally reaching a just and inclusive political settlement, Jeff has asked us to acknowledge that his remarks are being made at a moment when Palestinians in Gaza face what may well become a genocidal Israeli invasion, and that we at ICAHD extend our solidarity to them, together with keeping them constantly in our thoughts.
See ICAHD’s statement on these events on our website -