An Israeli Settler I Want to Live Beside [Book Review]

Decolonizing Israel, Liberating Palestine: Zionism, Settler Colonialism, and the Case for One Democratic State, by Jeff Halper (Pluto Press, 2021)

Publisher’s Description

For decades we have spoken of the ‘Israel-Palestine conflict’, but what if our understanding of the issue has been wrong all along? This book explores how the concept of settler colonialism provides a clearer understanding of the Zionist movement’s project to establish a Jewish state in Palestine, displacing the Palestinian Arab population and marginalizing its cultural presence.

Jeff Halper argues that the only way out of a colonial situation is decolonization: the dismantling of Zionist structures of domination and control and their replacement by a single democratic state, in which Palestinians and Israeli Jews forge a new civil society and a shared political community. To show how this can be done, Halper uses the 10-point program of the One Democratic State Campaign as a guide for thinking through the process of decolonization to its post-colonial conclusion. Halper’s unflinching reframing will empower activists fighting for the rights of the Palestinians and democracy for all.

Sam writes

The author, Jeff Halper, is a long-time friend, a thought partner, a fellow activist, and someone for who I have the utmost respect. Jeff is a global social justice activist at heart and in action. After many conversations and joint activities with him over decades, I can attest to the fact that he really does want to change the world for the better, not just Palestine and Israel.

The first two-thirds of this book (how Historic Palestine has been colonized) makes it to my top recommended readings on Palestine/Israel. The last third (how Palestine and Israel can be liberated from the horrendous outcome of this colonization process) gets filed into my growing filing cabinet of grand ideas to get all stakeholders past their pasts and engaged in building a joint future worth living between the River and the Sea.

Sam’s full review

Read and comment at Medium or Mondoweiss.

By Topic

Tagged with: Al-Quds newspaper • Anti-Zionism • Colonization • Decolonizing Israel • Decolonizing Israel, Liberating Palestine: Zionism, Settler Colonialism, and the Case for One Democratic State (book) • Green Line • History • Israel's "Matrix of Control" • Israeli Settlements, Settlers, and Settler Colonialism • Jeff Halper • Jewish National Fund (JNF) • Local Call • Mahmoud Abbas • One Democratic State Campaign (ODSC) • One State Solution • Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) • Rabbi Angela Buchdahl • Tony Klug • Yosef Weitz • Zionism & Zionists

Explore the site in BY TOPIC, A-Z.