Jewish author proposes one-state solution

Israeli-Jewish author and organizer Jeff Halper spoke at a June 25 lunch gathering organized by the Mennonite Church Eastern Canada (MCEC) Palestine-Israel Network (PIN). Halper heads the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions and is the author of Decolonizing Israel, Liberating Palestine: Zionism, Settler Colonialism, and the Case for One Democratic State.

Halper said that while it is vitally important to keep attention on the violence in Gaza and continue to pressure authorities for a ceasefire and the return of the hostages and prisoners, it is also important to “multi-task” by offering viable political options for the future. 

Halper said that when the situation in Israel and Palestine is framed as a conflict, there cannot be proper problem-solving because, at its core, this isn’t a disagreement of sides. Instead, Halper speaks about “an anti-colonial struggle against Zionist settler colonialism.”

Halper advocates for a single democratic state under which everyone has equal rights. Cultural groups such as Jews or Arabs would be full, equal citizens, but those identities would not trump citizenship. A two-state solution, Halper says, is “apartheid,” and legitimizes that apartheid.

In response to an audience question about how Mennonites can help, Halper suggested that the church, perhaps in partnership with the UN, could create physically safe spaces for Palestinians to organize and develop their own leadership. Palestinians are dispersed and fragmented, and anyone seen as a potential leader is eliminated by Israel. Halper wondered about the possibility of a church and UN coalition whose job it was to protect Palestinian people, to give them space to think and organize.