A Global Matrix of Control
War Against the People: Israel, the Palestinians and Global Pacification

http://www.solidarity-us.org/site/node/4912
Date Written:  2017-03-01
Publisher:  Against the Current
Year Published:  2017
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX21550

Book review of Jeff Halper's War Against the People: Israel, the Palestinians and Global Pacification.

Abstract: 
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Excerpt:

To unravel the problem of how Israel can "get away with it," Halper writes, "I began to look outside the box of the Occupation itself." This led him to areas of research beyond the purview of his previous training, and that of most activists, into "a world of military systems I knew nothing about." He found Israel playing a central role in a "global pacification industry, as I call it, (which) threatens us in fundamental ways not immediately obvious."

Halper rejects some frequently offered formulas, for example, that Israeli support in the international community can be "explained by normal international relations." Many countries who actively trade with Israel stand opposed to its Occupation policies, and Israeli rejection of the internationally supported two-state solution flies in the face of its support by the United States and many Arab states.

Nor does Halper accept that the strength of Israel's lobby in the United States provides an adequate explanation, despite the fact that he characterizes the American Congress as being Israel's "best friend." Finally, Halper rejects the argument that the continued cooperation and support Israel receives from much of the world community, despite the widespread opposition to its Occupation policies and its miserable record on human rights, can be explained by Israel's persistent efforts to have the world view it as the most tragic of Nazi holocaust victims.

Instead, Halper discovered that of the 157 countries with which Israel has diplomatic relations, "virtually all the agreements and protocols Israel has signed with them contain military and security components."