Chicago Hearing: Does U.S. policy on Israel and Palestine uphold our values?

Source: Chicago Hearing WebSite (make sure you visit the site and explore their resources.)
"The Chicago Hearing is modeled after a Congressional hearing and will be webcast live from a link on the home page.The Chicago Hearing will bring together witnesses to tell seldom-heard stories from Israel-Palestine that raise critical questions about the effects of U.S. policies in the region. Does Israel's explanation of security legitimize its violations of international law? Does the U.S. government condone Israeli policies and practices that would not be tolerated if replicated in America by the U.S. government?

The Hearing highlights voices of those on the other end of the pipeline of U.S. aid to Israel. Israeli, Palestinian and American witnesses will testify to lives lost, freedoms denied and property destroyed by Israeli policies buttressed by U.S. aid and support. The witnesses will testify to the collateral effects of U.S. policies toward Israel: military and financial aid that totaled over $3 billion in 2009 as well as unconditional diplomatic support for Israel in the United Nations.

A Listener Panel of public officials, academics and religious leaders will ask questions and make comments following the testimony. The Hearing, modeled after a Congressional fact-finding hearing, will center on three topics: Property Rights; Freedom of Movement, Association and Speech; and Military Aid and Armaments. A speaker will provide the context for each topic and will introduce one or more witnesses.

Moderator
Helena Cobban, Just World News

Witnesses:
Jeff Halper - Coordinator Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD)
Jad Isaac - Director General Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem,
Cindy Corrie - Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice
Amer Shurrab - a Palestinian peace activist from Khan Younis in Gaza

Listener Panel
* Yali Amit, Arab-Jewish Partnership for Peace and Justice in the Midde East
* Cantor Michael Davis, Ta'anit Tzedek (Jewish Fast for Gaza)
* Father R. Cotton Fite, Associate Priest at St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Evanston
* John J. Mearsheimer, University of Chicago
* Barbara Ransby, University of Illinois at Chicago
* Dr. Zaher Sahloul, Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago
* Ghada Talhami, D.K. Pearsons, Professor of Politics, emerita

Chicago Hearing Part 1

AFSCVideos — April 20, 2010 — Does U.S. policy on Israel and Palestine uphold our values? The Chicago Hearing, an initiative of the American Friends Service Committee, Chicago, addresses this question. The Hearing is modeled after a Congressional fact-finding meeting. Witnesses and a listener panel have a moderated discussion on the topics of property rights, freedom of movement, speech and association and military aid. This webcast took place Sunday, April 18 from 1:30 PM to 5:30 PM CDT. Details at www.chicagohearing.org.


Part 1
Welcome and Introductions [Jennifer Bing-Canar and Helena Cobban]



Part 2
Property Rights: [Mezna Qato Introduction and Jeff Halper Testimony]



Part 3
Property Rights Moderated Discussion with the Listener Panel



Part 4
Freedom of Movement [Lisa Kosowski Introduction and Jad Isaac Testimony]
Jad Isaac - Director General Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem



Part 5
Jad Isaac - Director General Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem
Moderated Discussion with the Listener Panel



Part 6
Military Aid [Josh Ruebner Introduction and Amer Shurrab Testimony]



Part 7
Military Aid [Cindy Corrie Testimony] (19:10)



Part 8
Moderated Discussion with the Listener Panel



Part 9
Closing by Moderator Helena Cobban


Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog

Despite pressure Jeff Halper speaks out in Australian universities

Despite pressure Jeff Halper speaks out in Australian universities:

"Press TV Sydney"



Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog

Jeff Halper: An Israeli in Palestine

Jeff Halper: An Israeli in Palestine:

1:29:32 - Nov 16, 2008

"Jeff Halper immigrated to Israel near the end of the sixties. As a peace activist he then founded The Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions to protect and rebuild the Palestinian homes destroyed by Israeli bulldozers."



Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog

Jeff Halper - From Apartheid to Warehousing

Jeff Halper - From Apartheid to Warehousing:
130 min - Oct 11, 2008
"Executive Director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, Jeff Halper, talks about recent transitions in Israeli policy towards the Palestinian people, and about why Israeli governments, from Begin to Sharon, have always been able to rely on US support. The full title for his lecture is 'From Apartheid to Warehousing: Israel's Strategies of Dispossession and Control.'"



Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog

Jeff Halper on Surplus Humanity, Warehousing and the Matrix of Control

Jeff Halper on Surplus Humanity, Warehousing and the Matrix of Control:

"Jeff Halper speaks at the United Lutheran Church in Eugene, Oregon on October 10, 2008"

Jeff is a professor of Anthropology, a writer, a human rights activist and Executive Director of ICAHD, Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions. He was also the only Israeli Jew aboard the FREE GAZA boat lift that broke the Israeli blockade by sailing from Cyprus to the port at Gaza City in late August of this year. This event was sponsored by:
Corvallis-Albany Friends of Middle East Peace, United Lutheran Church of Eugene, University of Oregon Muslim Students Associations, Community Alliance of Lance Country, Eugene Veterans For Peace, Jewish Voice for Peace, Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights, Eugene Episcopal Church of the Resurrection, Friends of Sabeel-North America, American Jews for a Just Peace, Lutherans for Justice in the Holy Land-A Ministry of Central Lutheran Church, Voices for Mid-East Justice, Woman's International league for Peace and Freedom, American Friends Service Committee and http://www.Al-Nakba-History.com

part 1/2 (43 min)


part 2/2 (41 min)

George Galloway Interviews Jeff Halper

Israelis Against House Demolitions & George Galloway Pt1:

"George Galloway talking with Jeff Halper, head of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) - a non-violent, direct-action group established to oppose and resist Israeli demolition of Palestinian houses in the Occupied Territories.

ICAHD's activities have extended to: resistance and protest actions in the Occupied Territories; efforts to bring the reality of the Occupation to Israeli society; and mobilizing the international community for a just peace.

ICAHD is comprised of members of Israeli peace and human rights organizations. Their work in the Occupied Territories is closely coordinated with local Palestinian organizations.

ICAHD: http://www.icahd.org/

Recorded 30 May 2008 from George Galloway's live talkshow on Talksport radio.

Listen to George Galloway live online every Friday and Saturday night, 10pm - 1am GMT:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtFg_F..."

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Part 4



Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog

Jeff Halper detained during house demolition in Anata.

Jeff Halper detained during house demolition in Anata.:

"Jeff Halper (director of ICAHD)is detained while tries to reach the buldozer during the demolition done by the Israeli municipality of the Hamdan family in Anata, Jerusalem."

Human Rights and Politics in Israel-Palestine | MIT World

Human Rights and Politics in Israel-Palestine | MIT World:

Anat Biletzki
Jeff Halper
October 22, 2007
Running Time: 2:28:28

"Human rights are central to the fraught politics between Israelis and Palestinians, these two panelists argue. Any conceivable solution to such an endless conflict must begin by acknowledging the current bleak realities of Palestinian life under Israeli rule, they say.

Anat Biletzki and the group B'Tselem have conducted painstaking studies of how Israel’s longstanding agenda of allowing its civilians to settle on Palestinian occupied land constitutes an infringement of the Palestinians’ basic equality, property rights, freedom of movement, their very “right to self-determination.” The settlements were given a “cloak of legality,” sanctioned as they were by one Israeli government after another. Geographically, the settlements break up what might have been a contiguous Palestinian state.

Biletzki ties the settlements together with other work by the Israelis conducted in the name of security to demonstrate the existence of a forbidding, two-tier society : a system of roads off limits to Palestinians in the occupied territories, or permitted only via carefully guarded checkpoints; the wall (or separation barrier), which runs through Palestinian land; and the total control of Gaza, from the economy to communications, which increasingly makes it “a big prison.” This barricading of Palestinians has become a “routine phenomenon” –and not worthy of the headlines, in the way bombs and torture are, says Biletzki. She insists that “our political conversation must become a human rights conversation,” and hopes that she can make an impact on American Jews and policy makers, who don’t believe in the possibility of making a deal with the Palestinians: “If we give them the land, they’ll throw us into the sea.”

Jeff Halper describes the current situation for Palestinians as apartheid, knowing full well the awful resonance of the term. He sees the system of settlements, roads and the wall as a deliberate land grab, “imprisoning tens of thousands of Palestinians within cities, towns and villages.” The word apartheid “cuts through -- immediately you get it.” This is important because the situation in Israel “is a global issue that affects everyone. It’s the epicenter of instability in the entire region…one of the reasons you can’t take toothpaste onto an airplane.”

Reframing the issue will bring the kind of negative attention that South Africa once drew, as well as international sanctions, and corporate divestment. While Halper believes Israel has essentially foreclosed a viable two-state solution, he still imagines that the U.S. might persuade Israel to pull out of the settlements, so Palestinians can move back in. “There would be dancing in the streets of Tel Aviv,” Halper predicts, because so many Israelis “want this albatross off their back.”."



Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog

House Demolitions - A talk with Jeff Halper

The Struggle: House Demolitions:
29:19 - Aug 25, 2007
TSVN - The Struggle Video Network - www.TheStruggle.org

"Jeff Halper of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions describing how Israel has demolished 18,000 Palestinian homes with plans to bulldoze 20 to 40,000 more.

Also interview with Leslie Angeline of Code Pink about her trip to Iran"



Palestine Video - A Palestine Vlog

*Jeff Halper - Israeli Apartheid and the Paths to a Just Peace

Jeff Halper is the coordinator for the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions. In this interview, conducted on December 31, 2006, in Jerusalem, Halper discusses the Apartheid policies of the Israeli government, the concept and significance of Zionism, and the one- and two-state solutions to the Palestine/Israel conflict.

Jeff Halper - The United States, Israel and the American Jewish Community

Jeff Halper - The United States, Israel and the American Jewish Community:
119 min - May 3, 2007
pdxjustice Media Productions - www.pdxjustice.org

"Jeff Halper, the executive director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, speaking in Portland, Oregon, on May 3rd, 2007. Halper discusses the role of Israel in the American Jewish community, the growing crisis in Israel-Palestine, and the urgent need for change in the United States' policy toward the region."