A rights-based approach to the Israel-Palestine conflict: the best approach for peace
To be delivered by Dr Jeff Halper
Professor of Anthropology and Coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolition
Thursday 4 September, 6.15pm for 6.30pm start - EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED
Co-presented by The Australian Friends of Palestine Association (AFOPA) and supported by The Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre at UniSA
Enquiries: secretary@friendsofpalestine.org.au or phone: 08 8373 2750
Unfortunately Dr Halper is now unable to come to Australia as planned. This event will be re-scheduled for a later date in 2009.
Acceptance of the need to uphold human rights is often a casualty in the continuing search for some resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The demolition of Palestinian homes and the construction of the wall dividing Palestinians and Israelis induce special types of tensions. The causes and effects of these developments will be explained by Dr Halper from his perspective as an active participant in the search for an end to the conflict. He will show how a rights-based approach should be central to a resolution, whether this be a one or two-state solution to the conflict, some kind of regional confederation, or some alternative approach.
Dr Jeff Halper grew up in the USA and received his Ph.D. in Cultural and Applied Anthropology from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee before moving to Israel in 1973. A community worker for the Jerusalem municipality for more than a decade, he worked in the poor Mizrahi Jewish neighbourhoods of Jerusalem. Dr Halper served as the Director of the Middle East Center for Friends World College, and has taught at universities in Israel, the US, Latin America and Africa. Amongst other publications, he is author of Obstacles to Peace, a resource manual of articles and maps on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. His work against the occupation is recorded in his most recent book: An Israel in Palestine. The Israeli Committee Against House Demolition, of which Jeff is the Coordinator, is a non-violent Israeli peace and human rights organisation.
While the views presented by speakers within the Hawke Centre public program are their own and are not necessarily those of either the University of South Australia or The Hawke Centre, they are presented in the interest of open debate and discussion in the community and reflect our themes of: strengthening our democracy – valuing our diversity – and building our future.