Arab 48 Interview with Jeff Halper

Halper: “I presented what we have done as a group about abolishing colonialism, ending Zionism, dismantling the state, and the alternative that will replace all of that (one state), and I presented the comprehensive analysis we concluded for this idea.”

In his book “Decolonizing Israel, Liberating Palestine,” whose Arabic edition was recently published, Jeff Halper of the “One State” campaign believes that what we usually call “the Israeli-Palestinian conflict” is nothing but a struggle against colonialism, a struggle against Zionism and Israel for the liberation of Palestine. It is a crucial difference, as he put it.

He also considered that the conflict arises between two or more "parties", both of which are legitimate, and then the conflict is settled through negotiations and settlement. As for the struggle against colonialism, it cannot be settled without dismantling the colonial system itself, which means, as he says, that neither struggle nor conflict requires a group Different goals, strategies and political tactics, and each leads to a completely different end.

For an oppressed people, conflict resolution, potentially a form of conflict management, can lead to some temporary improvement in an unjust situation because it addresses the power imbalance between the two parties. In contrast, the process of liberation requires the dismantling of the entire colonial system in order to replace it with a more just system; According to Halper's belief.

Halper sees the importance of the need for accurate analysis as it constitutes the basis of the liberation program, and the formulation of an effective strategy to achieve it necessarily ranges between the academic and political fields.

Based on this diagnosis of the nature of the conflict as a struggle against a settler-colonial project that must be completely dismantled and a just system established, Haller believes that this system must also deal with the legacies left by Zionism and its colonial state, which are the demographic and national legacies.

It reflects the first legacy, similar to the reality of whites in South Africa, after the Israeli Jews became such a part of the fabric that it is difficult to imagine their expulsion from the country, which means that they “will always remain.”

The second legacy relates to the transformation of Israeli Jews into a national entity, which means that “in the future, these two ethnic national groups must find an appropriate framework that enables them to coexist and practice their common life in a society free of colonialism, which is the framework of a single state.”

In the arena of practical application, Halper believes that “only Palestinians can define the meaning of liberation for them, which at a minimum includes the Palestinian people restoring their sovereignty and national rights, reuniting them as a people in their historic homeland, and enjoying the collective power that enables them to control their destiny and preserve their national culture.” This means that he must ensure that conditions are created for his liberation in the structure of the post-colonial state, which is completely logical, just as it happened in other liberation movements.”

In this regard, “Arabs 48” interviewed the academic activist, Jeff Haller, about the campaign and the book “Deconstructing the Colonization of Israel, Liberating Palestine, One Civil Democracy.”

“Arab 48”: It is clear that the “One State” campaign and the book are linked to each other, and that the book came to formulate and explain the campaign’s program, goals, and objectives with greater clarity and detail, especially since some consider it a kind of utopia?

Jeff Halper

Halper: It is known that we started the “one state” campaign that includes Palestinians and Israelis more than five years ago, and the first nucleus included a group of Palestinian activists and academics, including Awad Abdel Fattah, Jamil Hilal, and others, and Israelis, including myself, Ilan Pappe, Ronen Ben-Ari, and others as well.

The group included an increasing number of Palestinians from 1948, in particular, and also included Palestinians from other regions alongside the Israelis, all of whom were anti-Zionist, which created common ground, unlike other initiatives that wanted to preserve the status quo, including the control of the Jewish majority.

Since our launch, we have been frank in our common intentions of ending the occupation, dismantling the Jewish state, and replacing it with a more just formula, a formula that, in our opinion, should be “one state,” neither federal nor confederal, but rather one civil democratic state based on one parliament and one judiciary, like any normal democratic state. .

“Arab 48”: The South African model was before you, with what it included of apartheid, dismantling apartheid, and building a democratic state?

Halper: Right, like South Africa along with the return of Palestinian refugees, and the radical shift in our program is to recognize that one state between the sea and the river is a binational state.

We know that this issue raises a wide debate among the Palestinians, but this is our position, and the basic basis of our partnership is citizenship, as we start from the fact that we are all equal citizens. Here there is a problem in that you want a civil state, but what about Palestinian nationalism and what about Israeli-Jewish nationalism?

“Arabs 48”: At that time, when the Palestine Liberation Organization adopted a single, secular, democratic state, it bypassed the issue of nationalism by saying, “In which Muslims, Christians, and Jews live equally”?

Halper: True, but this is somewhat false, and certainly there is a historical factor as well, because in the history before World War I, religious groups, not national ones, actually lived in these countries, before they brought nationalism from Europe.

But today you cannot ignore Palestinian nationalism and say that the Palestinians are a group of Muslims and Christians, just as you cannot ignore the formation of an Israeli-Jewish national group over the 100 years of Zionism and its state.

"Arabs 48": Let's move on to the book. As you know, it was published in English and was later translated into Arabic?

Halper: During the previous years, we developed a “political program” of 10 points, and in fact it would have been preferable for a book to be written by a Palestinian on the subject, explaining what liberation is, what the vision is, what one state is, and other details, but no one wrote this book, note that There is more than one book that addresses the idea of “one state.” Nadim Rouhana, even Saeed Zaidani and Asad Ghanem have written about it, but there is nothing detailed that could constitute a political program.

For my part, I felt this need, but since I am not Palestinian, I cannot represent the group or the Palestinians, but I wrote nonetheless as an academic. I specialize in anthropology, master the use of terminology and analysis, and possess a political vision.

I presented what we did as a group about abolishing colonialism, ending Zionism, and dismantling the state, and the alternative that will replace all of that (one state), and I presented the comprehensive analysis that we reached for this idea, but in the book I also confirm that I am not Palestinian and therefore I present the topic as a general idea.

“Arab 48”: It is as if you want to say that the Palestinians do not lack guardians?

Halper: True, but on the other hand, the presence of an anti-Zionist voice from an Israeli Jew is also important, because the whole project of liberating Palestine does not concern the Palestinians only.

I know that many Palestinians do not expect the Israelis to stay and will not be happy for them to stay, but in reality this is what will happen regardless of whether it is fair or not.

“Arabs 48”: The truth is that this is related to the method of liberation and the method in which Zionism and its state will be dismantled, if that were to happen one day, and in the peaceful method that you propose, is it natural for the majority of Israelis to remain Jews?

Halper: I often accompany groups from outside the country to Tel Aviv, and when I look at the city I become more convinced that it is not a passing phenomenon. Jewish Israelis are a reality, regardless of whether it is just or unjust, as I previously said.

“Arabs 48”: It is too late, as they say, after 75 years, but there are those who also say that the Crusaders left after 100 years, knowing that they did not build a state with the same greatness and did not turn the demographic and geopolitical reality upside down, as Zionism did?

Halper: In fact, our political program tries to be good for everyone. It is not against the people, but rather against Zionism and against settler colonialism.

"Arab 48": I do not remember what happened in this regard in South Africa, and how many whites left after the dismantling of the apartheid state?

Halper: Only 18% of the white population left South Africa, and this happened in light of Nelson Mandela's famous statements, "We are all South Africans," which made whites realize that they were an integral part of the coming South Africa.

This does not mean that the whites accepted the dismantling of apartheid, but when this was forced upon them, they agreed with democracy because they realized that they were part of the future South Africa, and this was one of the reasons for the success of the South African model, and I believe that the matter is similar for us as well.

Perhaps my contribution as an anti-Zionist Israeli Jew is that I can say these things that are difficult for other Palestinians to say.

"Arabs 48": In your book, you presented, explained and analyzed the one-state program?

Halper: Yes, but I also included an Israeli-Jewish voice. It is true that I am anti-Zionist, but I am an Israeli with an Israeli national identity that must be accepted to some extent. I could not write a book like a Palestinian, but a Palestinian also cannot write a book that includes the critical Israeli voice, and therefore I see that My voice is essential to part of an argument or speech.

“Arab 48”: You mean we can “use” you to say things we can’t say yet?

Halper: Or are you afraid to say it, but another word related to the book is that the problem today lies in the absence of a Palestinian program or project, and our program is a return to the previous original vision of the Palestine Liberation Organization before it was changed by the interim program that paved the way for the two-state solution in 1988, meaning that we do not exist. Something new. Rather, we build on the foundations on which the Palestine Liberation Organization was built, namely the dismantling of Zionism and the establishment of a “one state.”

We are aware of the changing circumstances and the necessity of renewing the program, which is evident in the transition to a bi-national civil state instead of secularism, and we also renew the path leading to such a solution.

Jeff Halper: An academic specialist in anthropology who lives in occupied Jerusalem. He is the head of the “Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions” and a member of the “One Democratic State” campaign.