FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - November 26, 2006
CONTACT: Ori Nir - (202) 728-1893

Washington, D.C.-Americans for Peace Now (APN) today welcomed the Gaza ceasefire agreement reached between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. APN calls on all parties to adhere to the agreement. It also urges Prime Minister Olmert and President Abbas to expand the ceasefire to the West Bank and take advantage of this opportunity to restart political negotiations.

APN, a Jewish, Zionist organization dedicated to enhancing Israel's security through peace and to supporting the Israeli Peace Now movement, has in recent months been warning that continued violence in Gaza could spill over and spread to the West Bank, with possible destabilizing impacts elsewhere in the region. A ceasefire could both save lives and supply the calm needed for a series of vital political and economic processes to unfold. Such processes could lead to the resumption of peace negotiations, which most Israelis and Palestinians support, between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

"The agreement is very important. More important, however, is full adherence to it. We view with concern the reports that two Palestinian factions - albeit small - have rejected the ceasefire agreement. Most important, however, is follow-up by both sides and by the international community - led by the United States - to make sure that the cessation of violence is more than an end in itself," said Debra DeLee, President and CEO of Americans for Peace Now. "In the absence of progress towards a political arrangement, it is only a matter of time until violence resumes."

APN is urging all the parties involved, DeLee added, to make the ceasefire a means to achieve the following objectives:

• Longer-term security arrangements in and around Gaza, including a cessation of arms smuggling into the Strip.
• Extending the ceasefire and security arrangements to the West Bank.
• The release of Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit.
• Free flow of humanitarian relief into the Gaza Strip and the full functioning of border-crossings, in accordance with security agreements, to allow movement of people and goods.
• An agreement among the Palestinian factions that would produce a government with which Israel and the international community could engage.
• A resumption of political negotiations between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority.

"This ceasefire agreement is a rare opportunity to break through the misery and despair that has haunted Israelis and Palestinians for the past year and to introduce some much-needed hope. We urge Israelis and Palestinians - as well as our own government - not to miss this opportunity," DeLee said.