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In the latest book by Jeff Halper, “War Against the People” the essence of the book states that in this endless war on terror we are all doomed to become Palestinians given the globalization of Palestine with what he termed as Israel’s securotacracy and securocratic warfare. The case of Iraq is a clear demonstration of this as a result of the historical and contemporary events that have taken place in relation to this context; whereby the slow and steady Israelization has been forming and made very evident with the Kurdish region of Iraq.

First and foremost, the United States led invasion of Iraq was motivated politically by the Israel lobby as part in parcel of the presentation of the invasion as one that would be of interest to Israel’s political and regional interest; specifically emphasizing the notion of security and war on terror. Setting aside the current push by the same lobby for a military solution in relation to Iran along the same line of security argumentation, the consequences of the Iraq war have been deeply disturbing some of which are but not limited to the rise of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and a heightened insecurity and terror in the region.

Notwithstanding the disturbing similarities between the ‘Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’ and the ‘Jewish State of Israel and the Levant’, the Kurdish region of Iraq and the Iraqi Kurds in particular have fallen in an interesting position within the overall 2003 Iraqi invasion context. Given the fact that relations and interests between the Kurds and Israeli’s have been taking place directly or indirectly both politically and economically- the relationship between the two in relation to security cooperation, training and assistance was already ripe and seemingly growing with the exportation of oil to Israel by Iraqi Kurds as well as Netanyahu’s support and endorsement of a Kurdish State.

Hence, the recent news on Israel’s justice minister stating ‘it’s time to help them’ in relation to an independent Kurdish state is simply the attempt at an officializing process of the relations between the two mentioned above. Setting aside, the contradiction of Israel rightfully supporting the self-determination of the Kurdish people but unrightfully denying the self-determination of the Palestinians proves Jeff Halper’s theory to be correct on this front with the ultimate emphasis being on another recent development that has been taking place; the timing of which is not a coincidence.

The Peshmerga forces have been engaging in a de-Arabization process via the bulldozing of communities and villages in Iraq under the guise of fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Notwithstanding the fact that bulldozing homes and villages is a tactic that Jeff Halper in particular addresses with an organization that he co-founded and directs known as the Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions, De-Arabization is the essence of Zionism itself including the security apparatus of the State of Israel. The De-Arabization process also known to the Palestinians as Al Nakba has been and remains to be the standard operating procedure for the State of Israel when dealing with the indigeneity of the Palestinians-a modus operandi that is being exported by the State of Israel to the Kurds.

Given the information above along with “concerns” related to ethnic demographics by the Kurds over Iraqi Arab refugees fleeing to their regions en masse- the same way Israel holds similar “concerns” over Palestinians in relation to ethnic demographics and Judaisation of the land of Palestine- the position that the Kurdish people have taken in Iraq has been made clear-Like Israel, the concept of self determination via statehood is being endorsed and pushed for at the expense of Arabs. When applying Jeff Halper’s statement “In an endless war on terror, we are all doomed to become Palestinians”, the question that begs answering in this case is are the Kurdish people taking this position out of shared ideological standpoints as Zionism; based on racism, colonialism, apartheid and oppression or is it a perceived survival tactic from being doomed to become Palestinians? Whatever the truth may be- it is unquestionably and disturbingly an inconvenient one.