All posts in the topic Local Nobel Peace nominee arrested in Israel (Short link)

From: Charley Underwood Date: Aug 28 05:20 UTC Short link

This morning, I came across a Commondreams article about an old college friend
of mine.

Jeff Halper and I met at Macalester College back in the 60's.  Jeff grew up in
Hibbing, a contemporary of Bobby Zimmerman, as I recall.  I still remember some
of our conversations from those Mac years, particularly one in the dining hall
about Falasha Jews he had visited in Ethiopia during a summer study project he
designed.

I went on to teach kindergarten.  Jeff went on to become famous.  After Mac, he
studied to become a rabbi.  In the years that followed, he ran Peace University
in Costa Rica, immigrated to Israel and became a citizen and taught
anthropology for many years at Ben Gurion  University.  In recent years, he
founded the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions.  He continues to be a
major voice for peace between Israel and Palestine and to provide information
to Americans about Israel's occupation of Palestine.  Last year he and his
organization were nominated by the American Friends Service Committee to
receive the Nobel Peace Prize.  By chance, Jeff was in Minnesota that week,
lecturing at the University of Minnesota.  (He didn't get the Nobel Prize; that
year it went to that micro-loan guy.)

During the past couple of weeks, I have received a few emails from Jeff.  He
was, it turns out, the only Israeli on board one of the two ships attempting to
break the Israeli blockade of Gaza.  Tony Blair's sister was another on that
trip.  They made it to Gaza, delivered the medical and food supplies they
brought with them.  Jeff, however, was arrested upon his return home to Israel.
The story is at http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/08/27-5