While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to insist that he is serious about peace and continues to call on the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table, the actions of his government send a message that fruitful negotiations, peace, and the two-state solution are not on his agenda. Indeed, these actions seem more in line with the views articulated by hardliners in Netanyahu's coalition who openly scorn the idea of any two-state solution.

Washington, DC -Americans for Peace Now (APN) is alarmed by the huge increase in West Bank settlement construction, and joins its Israeli sister organization, Peace Now, in calling on the government of Israel to immediately stop settlement construction.

APN praises its Israeli sister organization, Shalom Achshav (Peace Now) for breaking the news about this sharp increase in settlement construction, based on official Israeli government data.

Recently, the news broke that Secretary of State John Kerry personally called Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren to protest the Israeli government's decision to "legalize" four illegal outposts - a decision that, if implemented, will mean the establishment of four new settlements. Secretary Kerry reportedly also asked the Israeli government to delay the move or rethink its decision.

by Lara Friedman

People keep asking me: "Have you seen the news? Has Bibi actually frozen settlements? What does this mean?"

On February 6, Americans for Peace Now sponsored, Together with the Foundation for Middle East Peace, Just Vision, and the Telos Group, a special event on the threat that Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem are posing to the two-state solution.

The Israeli Peace Now movement (Shalom Achshav) today released an explosive report detailing the record of Prime Minister Netanyahu's government on settlements over the course of its full term in office (April 2009-present). The report, based on official Israel government statistics, reports, and Peace Now field research, documents how over the past four years, the Netanyahu government has used settlements as a tool to systematically undermine the chances of achieving a viable, realistic two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, despite Netanyahu's rhetorical embrace of such a goal.

On Tuesday, APN's Rabbi Alana Suskin joined rabbis from J Street and Rabbis for Human Rights- North America to deliver a letter to Israeli PM Netanyahu. The letter was signed by more than seven hundred US rabbis, cantors, rabbinical students and cantorial students from more than 40 states and all movements of Judaism, and conservatively represents an audience of 100,000 American Jews.

A breakdown of the myriad of settlement plans being aggressively pursued in recent weeks.

By Hagit Ofran and Lior Amihai

The past few weeks may have been confusing for those who try to keep track of Israeli settlement activity. So many plans and approvals, some of which are lethal for the two-state solution, make it clear that the Netanyahu government has decided to push forward as many plans as possible in order to determine facts on the ground before the elections in Israel, as long as there is no "threat" of any renewal of the peace process.

Shalom TV covers the rabbinic letter (begins at 2:01), which was coordinated by Americans for Peace Now, J Street and Rabbis for Human Rights-North America in which more than five hundred US rabbis, cantors, rabbinical students and cantorial students express grave concern about Israel's plans to advance the construction of settlements in the controversial E1 area of the West Bank and authorize thousands of new housing units in East Jerusalem.

In recent weeks it has been fascinating to watch defenders of the Netanyahu government and the settlement enterprise engaging in logical and rhetorical contortions to try to justify the Netanyahu government's pro-settlement policies. What has emerged is simultaneously the most disingenuous and in some ways the most honest discussion of settlements in years.