Leading pro-Palestinian activist speaks in the Diocese

Following on from last year’s two highly successful speaking tours, the founder of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), Jeff Halper is visiting Salisbury on 13 May.

Jeff will speak on ‘One Democratic State in Palestine Israel - It's Time’, arguing that the Matrix of Control which Israel has laid over the Occupied Territory has effectively eliminated the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian "conflict" and has produced instead a regime of apartheid.

Faced with apartheid and the permanent warehousing of the Palestinians, the presentation goes on to outline the only just solution that Israel has left us with: a single constitutional democracy with one country, one citizenship, one parliament and one shared civil society in which its people’s collective rights are also protected. How such a solution would work and what we need to do to reach it is explored in depth.

This year, Jeff will be accompanied by Hisham Sharabati, an activist from the West Bank and co-founder of the non-violent resistance group the Hebron Defense Committee.

Hisham will draw on his experiences on the West Bank to speak on ‘Hebron, a microcosm of the occupation’.

Jeff and Hisham will be at the Salisbury Methodist Church, Church Street, Salisbury SP1 1EF from 7pm on the 13th. The event is hosted by Sarum Concern for Israel Palestine (SCIP). Entry is free but donations will be accepted.

ICAHD is a non-violent, direct-action group dedicated to ending the Israeli Occupation and achieving a just peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Over the past two decades, the group has focused their activism on Israel's policy of demolishing Palestinian homes (close to 50,000 in the OPT since 1967), both as a key issue in the Occupation and as a vehicle for showing how the Occupation works, highlighting its pro-active character and thus the need to hold Israel accountable, exposing the human cost of occupation.

ICAHD is located in Jerusalem but there are groups supporting ICAHD’s vision in the UK, the US, Germany, Finland and Australia working in order to insert a critical Israeli voice into the public debate abroad and mobilize support for a just peace. The group's work in the Occupied Territories is closely coordinated with local Palestinian organisations.