Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions

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Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions

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"
Location	Main Office – Jerusalem, Israel U.S. branch – Chapel Hill, North Carolina U.K branch – London Norwegian branch – Tromsø
Area served	Israel, Palestinian Territories
Method	"non-violent, direct-action", domestic and international advocacy, rebuilding of demolished homes, developing informational materials and tours
Key people	Jeff Halper – Director/Coordinator Salim Shawamreh Hibat Mahroum
Employees	8
Website	www.icahd.org

The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) is an anti-settlement, peace group that 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." ICAHD was founded by eight peace 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."

Activities

ICAHD's activities, which are based on nonviolent direct action, include exhibits, films, workshops, tours of the occupied territories, publication of books and articles on the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza, international advocacy.

ICAHD also organizes the rebuilding of demolished Palestinian houses using a network of Israeli, Palestinian and international volunteers. In April 2012 founding member Meir Margalit estimated that the organisation had rebuilt 1,000 homes including 200 in East Jerusalem. 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).

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 April 3, 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.

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."

ICAHD sends out action alerts and activists from different groups go out and engage in civil disobedience by stopping the bulldozers.

ICAHD, in January 2005, called for a campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions "until the occupation" is over.

ICHAD supported the "Jewish Boat to Gaza" in 2010.

International chapters

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.

Funding

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.

NGO-Monitor's exposure of the funding provided to ICAHD by the New Israel Fund (NIF) led to protests from NIF's donors, which resulted in NIF dropping further funding for ICAHD.

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." For example, 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. American folk-singing legend Pete Seeger also donates 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.

Reception

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."

In 2007, ICAHD received the Olive Branch Award from Jewish Voice for Peace.

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."

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."

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 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". 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.

Gerald Steinberg included ICAHD in a list of 11 "key local NGOs supporting radical pro-Palestinian (and antiIsraeli) positions". 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 campaigns, particularly in churches in Europe and North America." Steinberg also said that "In reality, ICAHD does nothing to advance coexistence and instead promotes extreme views which fuel the conflict."

Notes

^ "About". ICAHD.
"Group". The Washington post.
Shapiro, Samantha (February 16, 2003). "The Unsettlers". The New York Times. Retrieved May 5, 2012. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |newspaper= (help)
"What is ICAHD". Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions. Archived from the original on August 21, 2007. Retrieved August 10, 2007.
As Long As Our Voice Is Needed
Hermann, Tamar S (2009). The Israeli Peace Movement: A Shattered Dream. Cambridge University Press. p. 163. ISBN 978-0-521-88409-9. 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.
Terry Meade (2011). "Violence and domestic space: demolition and destruction of homes in the occupied Palestinian territories". The Journal of Architecture. 16 (1). Routledge: 71–87. doi:10.1080/13602365.2011.547011. 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. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
Singer, Merrill (2011). A Companion to Medical Anthropology. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 238. ISBN 978-1-4051-9002-2.
"'Prevent starvation of Gaza'". Ynet news. September 20, 2006.
"NGO: Israel forcing Arabs out of East J'lem". Haaretz. January 1, 2011.
"Israelis and Palestinians build in east Jerusalem". Ynet news. July 30, 2007.
"Volunteers rebuild houses demolished in Jerusalem". Ynet news. August 4, 2009.
"Announcing – 2007 ICAHD Summer Rebuilding Experience July 14–29, 2007". Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions. December 11, 2006. Retrieved August 10, 2007.
^ LIDMAN, Melanie (April 30, 2012). "J'lem councilman says Interior Ministry wants to remove him". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved February 5, 2012.
^ "American Israeli Jeff Halper arrested for the 8th time in Jerusalem". Online Journal. April 8, 2008. Archived from the original on August 21, 2008. Retrieved May 19, 2008. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
Hasson, Nir (April 30). "Jerusalem council member questioned over helping to rebuild illegal Palestinian home". Haaretz. Retrieved May 3, 2012. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
Manchester Boycott Model
ICAHD supports the Jewish Boat to Gaza
As Long As Our Voice Is Needed
ISRAEL'S STRATEGIC AGENDA, Efraim Inbar, Editor, Routledge, Sep 13, 2013 - Political Science - p.153
'How you can help' (icahd.org)
'Middle East Peace Projects'. euromedinfo.eu. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
'EU Partnership for Peace Programme' by European commission's delegation to Israel. Delisr.ec.europa.eu. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
"Pete Seeger's role in ending Israeli house demolitions", Ha’aretz.
"AFSC's nomination for the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize: Ghassan Andoni and Jeff Halper" (Press release). American Friends Service Committee. February 14, 2006. Retrieved May 16, 2008.
Alibhai-Brown, Yasmin (March 28, 2011). "Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: Voices of protest that deserve to be listened to, not sneered at". The Independent. Retrieved May 2, 2012.
Dickter, Adam. (June 8, 2007) Group Against Arab Home Demolitions Seeks Support Here. Thejewishweek.com. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
Freedman, Seth (February 14, 2007). "The Guardian: Israel". The Guardian. Retrieved April 26, 2012.
Freedman, Seth (May 22, 2008). "The Guardian: Comment is free". The Guardian. Retrieved April 26, 2012.
GERALD M. STEINBERG (2006): Soft Powers Play Hardball: NGOs Wage War against Israel, Israel Affairs,12:4, 748–768
'Peace mustn't become ‘orphan’ of Arab Spring'
EU ends funding for ICAHD

Publications

Jeff Halper, End of the Road Map, Counterpunch, January 3, 2008
Jeff Halper, The End of a Viable Palestinian State, CounterPunch, March 31, 2005
Jeff Halper, Nishul (Displacement): Israel's Form of Apartheid An African Conversation on Israel and Palestine, Columbia University, 2002
Jeff Halper, The Matrix of Control, Media Monitors Network, January 29, 2001

External links

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