Outspoken peace activist, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee and Coordinating Director of Israel's Committee Against House Demolitions, Jeff Halper spoke at Dalhousie University on Tuesday January 13th..
More than 500 people were packed into the small Potter Auditorium that evening. The room was so full that the audience was spilling into the aisles and some people were even standing on the stage just to catch a glimpse of Halper.
In his one-hour talk, entitled, 'Global Gaza', Halper spoke about Israel’s current offense on Gaza where more than 1000 Palestinians have already been killed.
He compared Israel’s offensive to “shooting fish in a barrel” in which 1.5 million Palestinians are crammed into the tiny district of Gaza with nowhere to go or to hide from the attacks.
Using a 'matrix of control' theory, Halper explained how the Israeli government, ever since Israel became a nation, has been fragmenting Israeli Palestinians into small ‘islands’ in order to loosen what little power Palestinians have.
“Israel is following in the footsteps of South Africa,” said Halper who described how the country has been creating 'bantustans', areas used during South Africa's apartheid to segregate non-whites into separate pieces of land.
“Israel is building a wall twice the height of the Berlin Wall – if that's not apartheid, I don't know what is,” exclaimed Halper. House demolitions, dumping of waste and excessive check points in the West Bank are other examples that Halper used to prove his point.
He explained that Israel's excessive use of force comes from the government seeing itself as an extension of the United States and as a global actor in its own right. With the backing of the Western world and a heavily financed military, Israel's force goes unchecked.
Halper detailed Israel's 1.5 trillion dollar war industry and told disturbing stories of the chemical weaponry and nanotechnology that the country is currently 'field-testing' on the people of the West Bank and Gaza. He says this technology as well as Israeli's urban warfare tactics are being exported internationally to military and police forces around the world.
“I wouldn't be surprised if the Halifax police force hasn't been trained in Israel,” said Halper to a roomful of surprised guests.
With such a strong offensive, Halper pointed out its not too difficult to understand why the Palestinians have been fighting back so fervently against the Israelis.
“When you lock (the Palestinians) in a cage, what do you expect these people to do?” he asks. “Palestinians have a right to resist.”
