An Israeli in Palestine: Resisting Dispossession, Redeeming Israel. This item is unavailable.An Israeli in Palestine: Resisting Dispossession, Redeeming Israel

In this book, the Israeli anthropologist and activist Jeff Halper throws a harsh light on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from the point of view of a critical insider. While the Zionist founders of Israel created a vibrant society, culture and economy, they did so at a high price: Israel could not maintain its exclusive Jewish character without imposing on the country's Palestinian population policies of ethnic cleansing, occupation and discrimination, expressed most graphically in its ongoing demolition of thousands of Palestinian homes, both inside Israel and in the Occupied Territories."An Israeli in Palestine" records Halper's journey 'beyond the membrane' that shields his people from the harsh realities of Palestinian life to his 'discovery' that he was actually living in another country: Palestine. Without dismissing the legitimacy of his own country, he realises that Israel is defined by its oppressive relationship to the Palestinians. Pleading for a view of Israel as a real, living country which must by necessity evolve and change, Halper asks whether the idea of an ethnically pure 'Jewish State' is still viable. More to the point, he offers ways in which Israel can redeem itself through a cultural Zionism upon which regional peace and reconciliation are attainable.

Jeff Halper is Professor of Anthropology at Ben Gurion University. He has been a leading figure within the Israeli peace movement for over thirty years. As the coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions he has worked widely across the Occupied Territories, dealing with issues such as land expropriation, road construction, settlement expansion, economic closure and water allocation. He is a founding member of Amnesty International in