Book Review: An Israeli in Palestine: Resisting Dispossession, Redeeming Israel, by Jeff Halper

Abstract

Jeff Halper An Israeli in Palestine: Resisting Dispossession, Redeeming Israel, Pluto Press: London, 2008; 317 pp.: 9780745322261 17 [pounds sterling](pbk) One of the longest and most brutal conflicts of the 20th century, which still continues, is the Israeli-Palestine conflict. It has always been a locus of special attention for politicians, journalists and academics, as well as peace activists. Pertaining to the subject, there exist hundreds of academic works enriched by different perspectives and theoretical orientations. Yet this book by Jeff Halper is of a rare kind, based on his years of experience as a peace activist in Palestine. The most pronounced contribution of this book arises from its ability to synthesise the personal experiences gained in the middle of the conflict, and its sophisticated political analysis of Israeli society and state. The book has four main parts. In the first part, entitled 'Comprehending oppression', Halper writes about his own personal and ideological evolution in Palestine. He explains to the reader how the course of his life changed when he became an Israeli citizen and settled in Palestine, and how his ideological orientation shifted from Zionism to anti-Zionism while preserving his belief towards Judaism, which he approaches as an ethical doctrine. He asserts that 'the claim of exclusivity renders Zionism an either/or equation: either the country is made ours or we lose it to them' (73). Thus he distances himself from this exclusionary equation and defends more inclusive Judaist beliefs. As he witnesses and resists the unjust and inhumane Israeli demolitions of Palestinian homes, he grasps what oppression means and how it affects Palestinians' lives dramatically. His personal and autobiographical style of writing makes the first part easily readable. The second part of the book, entitled 'The sources of oppression', provides a very detailed elaboration of the social psychology of Israeli Jews and an original political analysis of the Israeli state. Halper identifies three major impediments for Israeli citizens to achieve a just peace with Palestinians: 'A national ideology and the political system emerging out of it--an ethnocracy; a closed-circuit security framing; and a small group decision making'. His original and lucid analysis of ethnocracy in the chapter entitled 'Impossible dream: Constructing a Jewish ethnocracy in Palestine' acquaints us with a critical view of Israeli politics. While placing emphasis on a key concept indispensable to understanding Israeli politics and society, Halper demonstrates that democracy has been substituted by ethnocracy, which has its roots in tribal nationalism of the 19th-century East European Jewish communities alongside the Zionist ideology prevailing in all social classes in Israel. An ethnocratic system of politics turns Israeli citizens into a mass incapable of thinking and acting critically and taking initiatives for a just peace, thinks Halper. Another impediment to a just peace is the Israeli security framing, which confers the political resolution as impossible and replaces it with an incessant militarisation, thus pushing Israeli society into the arms of 'civilian militarism'. Moreover, Halper denounces the political elites and decision-makers for missing the opportunities for a just peace ever since the creation of Israel in 1948. …