American Jew donates $1.5 million to ICAHD
A June 12, 2007, article in the Jerusalem Post ) reported that The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) received a substantial donation from the US “to fund a campaign opposing the demolition of Palestinian and Bedouin homes throughout Israel and the Palestinian Authority.” The scope its advocacy and lobbying extends much further, however. As documented in previous NGO Monitor reports, ICAHD uses its funding (including €472,000 from the EU in 2005) to campaign against the two-state solution, promote boycotts, uses terms such as “apartheid”, and grossly distort the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Moreover, ICAHD often recites “statistics” on the numbers of Palestinian homes demolished in the West Bank. In general, sources for these statistics are not provided making independent verification of ICAHD’s allegations impossible. ICAHD’s claims that Israeli planning and development policies are founded in racism are opinions based on ideology, and of no validity beyond this. Independent and carefully documented research conducted by Israeli attorney, Justus Reid Weiner, found for instance, that accusations that Israel’s demolition of illegal Palestinian structures were based on “discrimination” or “racism” were without basis. According to Weiner, from 1996 to 2001, Jerusalem municipal inspectors reported nearly 4,000 building violations in Arab neighborhoods. Many experts, however, put this number at only 30% of the actual number of violations. Weiner’s research found that “only when no other options exist, the city issues a demolition order that requires no fewer than five signatures, from the local inspector up to and including the mayor. A demolition costs the city an average of 50,000 to 60,000 New Israeli Shekels (approximately $10,000 to $12,000 U.S.) each.” For the years 1997, 1998, and 1999, for example, the actual number of demolitions was 28, 31, and 36 respectively. These figures were confirmed by the Palestinian Authority and show that ICAHD, along with other NGOs, greatly exaggerate the scope of Israel’s demolition policy.
NGO Monitor’s Letter to the Editor:
June 12, 2007
Dear Editor,
Tovah Lazaroff’s article (American Jew finances anti-demolition campaign, June 12) once again fails to give the full picture of the activities of Jeff Halper’s Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD).
In detailed reports NGO Monitor has shown that ICAHD employ language that demonizes the State of Israel, draws comparisons with the treatment of the Jews by the Nazis, and supports the ongoing boycott campaign against Israel’s universities.
Hapler, who received EU funding under the Partnership for Peace program, travels the world spreading this vociferous rhetoric and claiming “The Israelis just don’t get it.”
That anyone should help him in his attacks on Israel is a sad reflection of the lack of scrutiny applied to such highly politicized NGOs as ICAHD.
Gerald Steinberg
Executive Director
NGO Monitor
