Letter writer: Local group hosts noted Israeli peace advocate in Asheville

Posted on by Letters
Graphic by Lori Deaton

The Palestinian/Jewish Egalitarian Team is an Asheville-based group committed to working toward a just settlement of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. We meet monthly to discuss the conflict, share resources and reflect on potential possibilities for resolution. We come together from varied ethnic and religious backgrounds with varied viewpoints, but have managed to continue to meet for almost a year.

At the end of May, Israeli anthropologist, human rights activist, scholar and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Dr. Jeff Halper will be visiting Asheville to share his views about the conflict and the possibilities for peace. Dr. Halper taught anthropology at Haifa and Ben-Gurion universities, focusing his academic research on the modern history of Jerusalem, contemporary Israeli culture and the Middle East conflict.

In 1997, Dr. Halper co-founded the Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions to challenge and resist the Israeli policy of demolishing Palestinian homes. In 2006, the American Friends Service Committee nominated him, along with Palestinian activist Ghassan Andoni, for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Dr. Halper will be speaking several times during his Asheville visit, and PAJET is pleased to be sponsoring one of his talks on Sunday, May 22, at Lenoir-Rhyne University.

For more information about his schedule in Asheville, please contact pajetnc@gmail.com.

— Anne Craig
Asheville

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3 thoughts on “Letter writer: Local group hosts noted Israeli peace advocate in Asheville”

  1. James

    “Peace will come when the Arabs love their children more than they hate us.” – Golda Meir

  3. bsummers

    So anyone who advocates for peace and criticizes policies and trends within Israel is “anti-Israeli”? Tell that to Israel’s top defenders. The Israeli Defense Minister, just a few days ago:

    “I fought with all my might against manifestations of extremism, violence and racism in Israeli society, which are threatening its sturdiness and also trickling into the IDF [Israel Defence Forces], hurting it already”
    Israel politics: Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon resigns in protest
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-36340185

    His chief deputy:

    “Because if there is one thing that is scary in remembering the Holocaust, it is noticing horrific processes which developed in Europe – particularly in Germany – 70, 80, and 90 years ago, and finding remnants of that here among us in the year 2016.”
    IDF general in bombshell speech: Israel today shows signs of 1930s Germany
    http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/IDF-general-in-bombshell-speech-Israel-today-shows-signs-of-1930s-Germany-453142

    Top leaders in the Israeli military are comparing what’s going on there today to Nazi Germany. You can’t brush these men off as being “anti-Israeli”. They are concerned about the direction Israel is taking, both militarily and morally.

    I think we should give Dr. Halper a fair hearing.

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