[R-G] (Canada) Israeli peace activist Jeff Halper launches cross-country tour as crisis in Gaza escalates

[Sid Shniad]

For immediate release:                          January 12, 2009 





  

Israeli peace activist Jeff Halper launches cross-country tour as crisis in Gaza escalates 





  

Ottawa – Israeli Jew. Humanitarian. Journalist. Author. Academic. Human Rights Activist.   Nobel Peace Prize nominee Jeff Halper has been on the front lines of organizing for peace in Israel for almost 30 years.   He was the only Israeli aboard the Free Gaza flotilla that broke the Gaza siege this past August. His first hand account of the current Gaza crisis and whether Israel is moving to peace or apartheid will be the subject of a seven city cross-Canada tour that kicks off in Halifax on January 11, 2009. 





  

Halper is known internationally for his work as a co-founder of the Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions and for his passionate commitment to non-violent, political strategies to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 





  

Halper will visit Halifax (January 11-13), Montreal (January 14-17), Ottawa (January 18-19), Toronto and Hamilton (January 20-23), Winnipeg (January 24-26) and Vancouver (January 27-29) during his tour, and will speak with student groups, churches, trade unions, grassroots community organizers and Aboriginal activists.   





  

“I can no more passively witness my government’s destruction of another people than I can watch the Occupation destroy the moral fabric of my own country,” Halper wrote in an August 5, 2008 article, as he prepared to sail as part of the delegation aimed at ending the siege of Gaza.   “To do so would violate my commitment to human rights, the very essence of prophetic Jewish religion, culture and morals, without which Israel is no longer Jewish but an empty, if powerful, Sparta.” 





  

His tour is sponsored by Independent Jewish Voices (Canada), a network of 18 Jewish groups as well as individuals Jews from across Canada who are opposed to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. 





  

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Halper biography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Halper 





  

For more information, or to arrange media interviews with Jeff, please contact:   





  

Diana Ralph, Coordinator, Ottawa, (613) 321-2765 (Cell 613-314-2805), ijv at magma.ca , or Mark Etkin, Winnipeg, (204) 955-1929 etkin at cc.UManitoba.ca 





  



  

Itinerary of public events and local contacts for Jeff Halper Tour 





  



  

Halifax -- Further info :  Larry Haiven, Cell: 902 240-2782, larry.haiven at gmail.com 





  

Sunday, Jan 11   Halper arrives, media availability 





  

Mon, Jan 12      Morning:   Media 



                        2:00-4:00   Kings College Seminar Room meeting with Jewish students 



                            5:00           Fundraiser: St. Mary’s University Art Gallery 



Tue, Jan 13        2:00           University Class 



                        5:30           Public speech: Scotia Bank Auditorium, Dalhousie University 



  



Montreal :   Contact Scott Weinstein, 514 289-9989, scottmontreal at yahoo.ca   



Itinerary TBC 





  

Ottawa :    Contact   Diana Ralph 613 321-2765, ijv at magma.ca 



Sun, Jan 18, 7 - 11 pm " Israel/Palestine: Towards Peace or Apartheid?" Marion Hall Auditorium, University of Ottawa, Main Campus , 



Mon., Jan. 19, 2:00 pm, "Reframing the Israel/Palestine Conflict" Room 256 S. of the Senate in Centre Block of Parliament.  $10 fee,   



Mon., Jan. 19 , 8 pm "Palestine: From Apartheid to Warehousing" Kailash Mital Theatre (formerly Alumni Theatre), Southam Hall, Carleton University.    



Hamilton – Contact:   Harry Shannon, harry.s.shannon at gmail.com or David Cohen, 905 577-1029 david316 at sympatico.ca . 



Wed, Jan. 21, 7:30 pm   McMaster University Health Sciences Centre , room 1A1 





  

Toronto : Contact Sandra Ruch , 416-716-4010 , sandra.ruch@ rogers.blackberry.net 





  

Thur., Jan 22,    noon, Ryerson 



Thur, Jan 22,   7:30 pm   Winchevsky Centre 



  Fri., Jan. 23 , 7:30 pm   Public talk Bloor St. United Church 





  

Winnipeg :   Contact: Mark Etkin, 204-955-1929, etkin at cc.umanitoba.ca 





Sat, Jan. 24 , 7:30 pm "Israel/Palestine: Towards Peace or Apartheid" – Rudolf Rocker Cultural Centre, 2nd Fl., 91 Albert St., 



Sun, Jan. 25, 4:00 pm   Canadian Mennonite University Auditorium, 500 Shaftesbury Blvd.   



Mon, Jan 26, 12:30 pm   University of Winnipeg, Rm. 1L12 , 



Mon, Jan 26, 3:00 pm   University of Winnipeg, Rm. 137 Isbister Bldg. 





Vancouver :  Contact: Sid Shniad, 604-314-5589, shniad at sfu.ca 



Wed, Jan. 28, 7:00 pm, The Unitarian Church of Vancouver, corner of Oak Street and 49th Ave W., Vancouver 



Fri, Jan 30, 5:00 pm University of British Columbia, Irving K. Barber Learning Centre  (Main Library) Room 182 



Fri, Jan 30, 8:00 pm, Al-Salaam Mosque, 5060 Canada Way, Burnab y. 
                    



Victoria : Contact:   George McFetridge, geomcfet at gmail.com 



Thur, Jan 29, hosted by Committee Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA) - Victoria