Founded | 1997 |
---|---|
Founder | Jeff Halper Amos Gvirtz Rabbi Arik Ascherman Meir Margalit Yoav Hess Yael Cohen |
Focus | "Israeli demolition of Palestinian houses in the Occupied Territories" [1] |
Location |
|
Area served | Israel, Palestinian Territories |
Method | "non-violent, direct-action", domestic and international advocacy, rebuilding of demolished homes, developing informational materials and tours [1] |
Key people | Jeff Halper – Director/Coordinator Salim Shawamreh Hibat Mahroum |
Employees | 8 |
Website | www |
The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) is a group opposed to Israeli settlements, [2] [3] which describes itself as "an Israeli peace and human rights organization dedicated to ending the occupation of the Palestinian territories and achieving a just peace between Israelis and Palestinians."
ICAHD says it uses non-violent, direct-action means of resistance to end Israel's policy of demolishing Palestinian homes in the occupied territories." [4]
ICAHD was founded by eight activists (see box), among whom was Jeff Halper, a long-time human rights advocate and professor of Anthropology, who serves as ICAHD's Director. Halper describes ICAHD as "a critical, 'radical' organization which can envision a single democratic state in Palestine/Israel." [5]
ICAHD's activities, which are based on nonviolent direct action, [6] [7] include exhibits, films, workshops, tours of the occupied territories, [8] publication of books and articles on the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza, international advocacy. [9] [10]
ICAHD also organizes the rebuilding of demolished Palestinian houses using a network of Israeli, Palestinian and international volunteers. [11] [12] [13] In April 2012 founding member Meir Margalit estimated that the organization had rebuilt 1,000 homes including 200 in East Jerusalem. [14]
In addition to rebuilding demolished Palestinian houses, ICAHD often takes legal actions on behalf of Palestinians whose houses have been demolished or are threatened with demolition (see example of Aqabah).[ citation needed ]
Members of ICAHD have been arrested numerous times by the Israeli army and police for attempting to prevent the demolition of Palestinian homes. Most recently, on 3 April 2008, ICAHD Coordinator Jeff Halper was arrested for the eighth time while nonviolently protesting the bulldozing of the home of the Hamdan family in a Palestinian neighborhood of Jerusalem – a house that had already been torn down once by Israeli authorities and had been rebuilt by ICAHD. [15]
In April 2012 one of ICAHD's founders, Meir Margalit was questioned by the Israeli Interior Ministry. Margalit, who admitted being involved in the rebuilding of over 200 homes, later commented, "I was asked if I did it on purpose and answered that I do not recognize the Interior Ministry's right to question me about my activities in East Jerusalem, which is occupied territory and where Israeli law is not valid". Margalit, a Jerusalem City Councilor, felt that he was being singled out for political reasons stating "we're in the McCarthy era, and it will get to everyone sooner or later." In response, the Interior Ministry spokesperson said that "Mr. Meir Margalit was summoned for questioning on suspicion of building without a permit, which is a criminal act." [14] [16]
ICAHD sends out action alerts and activists from different groups go out and engage in civil disobedience by stopping the bulldozers. [15] In January 2005, the group called for a campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions "until the occupation" is over. [17] ICHAD supported the "Jewish Boat to Gaza" in 2010. [18]
ICAHD has set up chapters in several countries. ICAHD-USA is headquartered in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and is incorporated as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. The United Kingdom branch, ICAHD-UK, is located in London, and the Norwegian branch is located in Tromsø.[ citation needed ]. A German chapter is located in Bremen.
In November 2012, Halper announced that ICAHD is in "financial collapse", which included "eviction from our office, due to over-dependency on a few major donors," and that they would return to solicit "grassroots" support. [19]
According to ICAHD's website, its "activities... depend on assistance from individuals and organizations in Israel and abroad. ICAHD also receives financial support from the European Union." In 2005, the EU provided ICAHD with €472,786 for a project called "Re-framing: Providing a Coherent Paradigm of Peace to the Israeli Public" under the Partnership for Peace program. [20] [21]
American folk-singer Pete Seeger donated part of the royalties from his song "Turn, Turn, Turn" (To everything there is a season) (based on the words of King Solomon from the book of Ecclesiastes) to ICAHD. [22]
In 2006, the American Friends Service Committee, a non-profit advocacy group that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1947, nominated Jeff Halper for the Nobel Peace Prize due to his ICAHD-related work, citing ICAHD's work "to liberate both the Palestinian and the Israeli people from the yoke of structural violence" and "to build equality between their people by recognizing and celebrating their common humanity." [23]
In 2007, ICAHD received the Olive Branch Award from Jewish Voice for Peace.[ citation needed ]
Writing in The Independent , Yasmin Alibhai-Brown described the ICAHD as "valiant, peaceful activists trying to stop bulldozers that daily demolish Palestinian homes and who tenaciously campaign against the occupation and land grabs by their own nation, their own people." [24]
Malcolm Hoenlein, in 2007, then executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said ICAHD was "trying to talk about demolitions without presenting the reason or truth for it. They couch it in more moderate terms but the anti-Israel purpose is clear." [25]
In 2007, Seth Freedman wrote in The Guardian that after a day touring with ICAHD, while the visitors "had not been fed any factual inaccuracies [by ICAHD] as far as I could tell, the complete glossing over of the other side of the story should set alarm bells ringing". Freedman felt that Halper and ICAHD should have been willing to condemn wrongdoing "on both sides". [26] Freedman changed his mind about ICAHD in 2008, and wrote in The Guardian that "the likes of Halper, ICAHD and all the others who are prepared to bring the truth into open should be praised to the skies for the invaluable work that they do." The article rues the fact that Freedman himself earlier condemned ICAHD and its work. [27]
NGO Monitor notes a number of controversial positions taken by ICAHD. [28] Its President, Gerald Steinberg, included ICAHD in a list of 11 "key local NGOs supporting radical pro-Palestinian (and antiIsraeli) positions". [29]
In a July 2012 letter to the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, Steinberg wrote that ICAHD is a "fringe political NGO that fuels conflict by frequently accusing Israel of 'apartheid' and 'ethnic cleansing'. ICAHD officials are also active in promoting BDS [boycotts, divestment and sanctions] campaigns, particularly in churches in Europe and North America." [30] Steinberg said that "In reality, ICAHD does nothing to advance coexistence and instead promotes extreme views which fuel the conflict." [31]
ICAHD functions through two parallel tracks: legal – appealing to the courts, thereby forcing the state to explain why the demolition is unavoidable, and nonviolent resistance.
a non-violent direct-action organisation, which specifically opposes the policy of house demolitions and questions the laws, rules, planning policies, security measures and language that allows or enables such violence to occur.
Peace Now is a non-governmental organization, liberal advocacy and activist group in Israel with the aim of promoting a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is an ongoing dispute between Israel and Palestinians, beginning in the mid-20th century. It is one of the world's most enduring conflicts; the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip has lasted 55 years. Various attempts have been made to resolve the conflict as part of the Israeli–Palestinian peace process, as well as efforts to reduce the broader Arab-Israeli conflict.
Rachel Aliene Corrie was an American activist and diarist. A member of the pro-Palestinian group International Solidarity Movement (ISM), she was crushed to death by an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) armored bulldozer in a southern Gaza Strip combat zone during the height of the second Palestinian intifada under contested circumstances.
The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) is a Palestinian-led movement focused on assisting the Palestinian cause in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. ISM is dedicated to the use of nonviolent protests and methods only. The organization calls on civilians from around the world to participate in acts of nonviolent protests against the Israeli military in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli disengagement from Gaza was the unilateral dismantling in 2005 of the 21 Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip and the evacuation of Israeli settlers and army from inside the Gaza Strip.
Mohammad Yusuf Dahlan born on September 29, 1961 in Khan Yunis Refugee Camp, Khan Yunis, Gaza Strip also known by the kunya Abu Fadi is a Palestinian politician, the former leader of Fatah in Gaza. Dahlan was born to a refugee family from Hamama, the youngest of six children.
Jeff Halper is an Israeli-American anthropologist, author, lecturer, and political activist who has lived in Israel since 1973. He is the Director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) and a co-founder of The One Democratic State Campaign (ODSC). He self-identifies as a Jewish Israeli.
Israel is an associated state of the European Union. The relations between the two are framed in the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, and the Union for the Mediterranean.
Combatants for Peace is an Israeli-Palestinian NGO and an egalitarian, bi-national, grassroots movement committed to non-violent action against the “Israeli occupation and all forms of violence” in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Homesh was an Israeli settlement organized as a community settlement in the northern Samarian hills of the West Bank along Route 60. The village was under the administrative jurisdiction of the Shomron Regional Council. In 2005, the town's homes were demolished along with three other settlements in the northern West Bank, as part of the Israeli disengagement from Gaza.
Rebuilding Alliance (RA) is a non-profit organization based in Redwood City, California, founded by electrical engineer Donna Baranski-Walker in 2003, that rebuilds homes and communities in regions of war and occupation. It developed from the Global Campaign to rebuild Palestinian Homes Organization, which had been dissolved a year earlier.
House demolition is a method Israel has used in the Israeli-occupied territories since they came under its control in the Six-Day War to achieve various aims. Broadly speaking, the house demolitions can be classified as either administrative, punitive/dissuasive and as part of military operations. The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions estimated that Israel had razed 49,532 Palestinian structures as of 2019. Administrative house demolitions are done to enforce building codes and regulations, which in the occupied Palestinian territories are set by the Israeli military. Critics claim that they are used as a means to Judaize parts of the occupied territory, especially East Jerusalem. Punitive house demolitions involves demolishing houses of Palestinians or neighbors and relatives of Palestinians suspected of violent acts against Israelis. These target the homes where the suspects live. Proponents of the method claim that it deters against violence while critics claim that it has not been proven effective and might even trigger more violence. Punitive house demolitions has been criticized by human rights organization as a form of collective punishment and thus a war crime under international law.
Michael Sfard, is a lawyer and political activist specializing in international human rights law and the laws of war. He has served as counsel in various cases on these topics in Israel. Sfard has represented a variety of Israeli and Palestinian human rights and peace organizations, movements and activists at the Israeli Supreme Court.
On Sunday, April 18, 2010, the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) initiated an event titled "The Chicago Hearing: Does U.S. Policy on Israel and Palestine Uphold Our Values?", modeled after a meeting of a United States Congressional fact-finding committee.
NGO Monitor is a right-wing non-governmental organization based in Jerusalem that reports on international NGO activity from a pro-Israel perspective.
B'Tselem is a Jerusalem-based non-profit organization whose stated goals are to document human rights violations in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, combat any denial of the existence of such violations, and help to create a human rights culture in Israel. It is currently headed by Hagai El-Ad, who has served as its director-general since May 2014. B'Tselem also maintains a presence in Washington, D.C., where it is known as B'Tselem USA. The organization has provoked sharp reactions within Israel, ranging from harsh criticism to strong praise.
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Timeline of events related to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict during 2016.
Events of 2019 in the State of Palestine.