Yesterday, 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.
Alpher discusses Syria's civil war and Israel's possible involvement, the best Syrian end-game from Israel's standpoint, whether, as long as Assad holds onto power, can the Syria-Israel border remain quiet, whether there are any signs of progress in Kerry's effort to renew final status negotiations,
On Friday, May 17, Americans for Peace Now co-sponsored an event on Capitol Hill to discuss the Arab League's Peace Initiative (API) and its potential as a tool to advance Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts.
By Ori Nir
Israel TV Channel 2 recently ran a lengthy report of pre-dawn arrests of Palestinian children -- rock-throwing suspects -- at a West Bank Palestinian refugee camp. The TV crew was embedded with an Israeli unit that raided the camp.
Briefing call with Israeli political analyst Akiva Eldar on the Netanyahu government's reaction to the Obama administration's effort to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Listen here.
The holiday of Shavuot, which begins this Tuesday night and continues through Thursday, celebrates the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai.
There are many traditions associated with Shavuot, including staying up throughout the night to study. Among the most beloved of the traditions associated with Shavuot is the eating of dairy meals (and cheesecake for we Americans!). This tradition is sometimes explained as being derived from the fact that the gift of Torah and its teachings are a guide towards justice and compassion. Killing, even killing for meat, which is permitted under some circumstances, is incompatible with these ways of compassion.
Enjoy your cheesecake!.
Alpher discusses Chinese Presiden Xi Jinping four-point peace plan for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the US and Russia's plan to convene an international peace conference to find a political solution to the civil war in Syria, and Kerry's investigation of ways to use the Arab Peace Initiative as a regional framework for a renewed Israeli-Palestinian peace process
by Lara Friedman, Daniel Seidemann
At the crux of the ongoing controversy over Google's decision to recognize "Palestine" on its google.ps landing page is an emphatic refusal by some in Israel (and abroad) to accept empirical reality. That reality is pretty uncomplicated. Most of the world today recognizes the Palestinians as a people. Most countries have voted at the U.N. to recognize Palestine as a theoretical state that must one day come into being in areas currently controlled by Israel. No nation on earth endorses Israel's continued occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem; Israeli actions to further entrench the occupation continue to provoke global condemnation.
by Lara Friedman
People keep asking me: "Have you seen the news? Has Bibi actually frozen settlements? What does this mean?"
Israel observes Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day) today. The holiday commemorates the reunification of Jerusalem and the establishment of Israeli control over the Old City in June 1967. The maps below show where Israel expanded the boundaries of Jerusalem after 1967. The "Indivisible city" actually includes a large amount of territory which was never a part of Jerusalem. 23 Palestinian villages were annexed to Jerusalem. East Jerusalem Palestinians were given permanent residency in Israel, but not full citizenship.
According to an Israeli radio report earlier today, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently ordered Minister of Housing Uri Ariel not to issue new tenders for construction in settlements.
On the heels of this report, Israel's Peace Now movement today confirmed that, since President Obama's visit to Israel in March, the government of Israel has not announced or approved any new West Bank settlement construction plans, and has not approved any new tenders for settlement construction.
Alpher discusses the Israel Air Force attacks on shipments of Iranian missiles near Damascus, the significance of Qatari PM Hamad bin Jassim having declared that the Arab Peace Initiative could involve "comparable and mutual agreed minor swaps of land" along the 1967 lines between Israel and Palestine, and Google's announcement that it had decided to include "Palestine" in its list of options for national pages.
Washington, DC - Americans for Peace Now (APN) warmly welcomes the Arab League's decision to soften its peace initiative to accommodate future land-swaps between Israel and the Palestinians, as a part of an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. APN is gratified to see that this positive development does not go unnoticed by Israel's leaders.
APN believes that the Arab Peace Initiative (API) of 2002, which has been repeatedly reaffirmed by the League of Arab States for more than a decade, represents a real basis for negotiations that could deliver comprehensive regional peace.
by Rabbi Mark Asher Goodman
If you follow God's commandments, you will have peace (shalom) in the land of Israel. And you will dwell in security (la'vetach). And you when you chase your enemies, they will fall by your sword. What kind of 'peace' and 'security' is it if violence is still seemingly ensured?
Alpher discusses what is the strategic significance of the controversy over chemical weapons use by Syria that was ignited last week in remarks by a senior Israeli intelligence officer; what he makes of media reports in Israel that Naftali Bennet is considering introducing a bill requiring a national referendum over any peace treaty reached with the Palestinians, and that he is trying to enlist the support of Yair Lapid; whether Kerry's plan to have a four-way Middle East peace summit in June, along with a comprehensive economic program to encourage US and European investment in the West Bank makes sense.
Lag B'Omer - the 33rd day between Pesach and Shavuot- is a little-known Jewish holiday that celebrates (among other things) the cessation of a divinely-sent plague that resulted from people not showing one another adequate respect. It is celebrated with bonfires, and great joy. In Israel, on Lag B'Omer, a pall of smoke hovers over the city of Jerusalem from all the bonfires being set throughout the city.
Yair Lapid, the big success story of Israel's recent elections, announced his venture into politics a year before the elections on Facebook. He wrote an essay asserting that any discussion on Israel's future must start with these words: "Where is the Money?" The question became his campaign slogan, and now follows him into his current position as Israel's Minister of Finance.
Following legal measures taken by Israel's Peace Now movement, settlers who had illegally taken over Palestinian shops in the wholesale market of Hebron, today peacefully left the building.
Alpher discusses possible scenarios for the future of the post of prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, What Egypt is doing to restore order to the Sinai Peninsula and why isn't it working, the conjunction of US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel's trip to Israel with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's resolution supporting Israel in the event it attacks Iran's nuclear weapons program.
This is the seventh in a series of reviews of new books on Middle Eastern affairs. We asked Dr. Gail Weigl, an APN volunteer and a professor of art history, to review Laila El-Haddad's and Maggie Schmitt's new book about the cuisine and culture of the Gaza Strip.
Laila El-Haddad and Maggie Schmitt, The Gaza Kitchen: A Palestinian Culinary Journey (Charlottesville, VA: Just World Books, 2013). 138 pages. $29.00
On April 11th, Americans for Peace Now brought together J Street U and the American Task Force on Palestine for "Dance for Peace," a night of music, food, and dialogue. College students of various backgrounds, nationalities and faiths from around the Washington, DC area came to meet others who care deeply about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Between bites of hummus and falafel, and to a soundtrack of popular Israeli and Arabic music, students were given the chance to hear a variety of perspectives on the conflict in a fun, relaxed setting.
Last month, we asked you to take action on an AIPAC-backed resolution, S. Res. 65. We were concerned that this resolution, if passed in its original form, could become a "backdoor to war" with Iran, giving a green light for Israeli military action against Iran that would almost certainly compel the U.S. to join the fight.
Alpher discusses Israel's security situation on this, the sixty-fifth anniversary of its independence, the ramifications of PA Prime Minister Fayyad's resignation, and why the Netanyahu government reportedly rejected Secretary of State John Kerry's proposal to renew two-state talks with the Palestinians on the basis of discussing borders and security first.
Audio recording of April 11th briefing call with filmmaker Dror Moreh on his award-winning documentary "The Gatekeepers." Listen here.
Early Israelis were filled with pride in 1958 when a monumental effort to dry the Houla wetlands was completed. For seven years, under Syrian shelling that claimed the lives of forty people, Israeli and British engineers dried more than 15,000 acres of marshes, hoping to secure a vast piece of land for agriculture. Drying the Houla wetland was perceived at the time as the purest, boldest manifestation of the Zionist ethos of kibush ha-shmamah ("Conquering the Wilderness").
Behind and beyond the Kerry visit.
Alpher discusses all the difficult pieces that US Secretary of State John Kerry must juggle in his third visit to Jerusalem and Ramallah in two weeks in trying to restart the peace process: what he's seeking from each side, where Turkey fits in, what Egypt is doing about Hamas and how might this factor into Kerry's efforts, where Jordan fits in, and what is the bottom line.
This is the sixth in a series of reviews of new books on Middle Eastern affairs. We asked Dr. Gail Weigl, an APN volunteer and a professor of art history, to review David Grossman's heart-wrenching novel about the emotional toll of the conflict.
By Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb
The basic rules of kashrut - which animals we eat, and which we avoid (meat-milk strictures came later) - are outlined this week in Parshat Shemini, Leviticus 11. While some say that keeping kosher is a chok, a dictum, with no clear rationale, others place it among the mishpatim, righteous rules given for real reasons - with ethics, public health, peoplehood, and spiritual development among the common explanations.
Americans for Peace Now mourns the death of Diane (Dee) Halley, a fellow peace activist and a friend of APN.
Alpher discusses the ramifications of the inauguration of natural gas supply from the Tamar field in the Mediterranean to the Israeli infrastructure, if the Israeli-Turkish rapprochement, based on Israel's apology over the Mavi Marmara affair is relevant to the natural gas export issue, what he makes of a key Israeli general advocating that Israel consider establishing a security strip on the Syrian side of the Golan border in order to keep Syria-based Salafi revolutionary elements from attacking Israel, and comments on last week's revelation by Israel's Civil Administration for the West Bank that over the past 33 years less than one percent of state-owned land in the West Bank had been allotted to Palestinians, and 39 percent to Israeli settlements and related infrastructure.
The Obama visit
Alpher discusses whether the breakthrough in Israeli-Turkish relations was the most significant achievement of the Obama visit to Israel, whether the Turkey-Israel rapprochement was the only significant achievement of the Obama visit concerning Syria, what he meant by "progress," regarding Iran and the Palestinians an whether there were failures or low points in this visit.
Soon, Passover. I've long believed that being Jewish is a calling-a vocation, if you will-and if that is so, then Pesach is surely an extraordinary contribution to the vocational education of the Jews.
Think of it: Avadim hayinu-"We were slaves." We! Not our ancestors long ago, but we ourselves. "In every generation, each of us must see himself, herself, as having been redeemed from the house of bondage."
I am writing in the afterglow of President Obama's speech in Jerusalem--an afterglow that lingers on as I re-read his words, and as I recall the boisterous applause that greeted them. I'm content to leave the word clouds and microscopic parsing of his speech to others. Likewise, I'll leave to others the speculation about what might have been, if only this speech had been given years earlier. For my part, I am unrepentantly stopping to savor the moment.
In his historic speech today, President Obama fired up a crowd of a thousand young Israelis at Jerusalem's convention center, receiving an outpouring of enthusiasm and support for his message of peace.
Americans for Peace Now (APN) today applauded President Obama's historic speech, delivered to an audience of young Israelis in Jerusalem.
APN President and CEO Debra DeLee stated:
"Today, President Obama did what he does best: he spoke directly and honestly to the people. With compassion, courage, integrity, and a touch of humor, President Obama made the best case for peace that Israelis have ever heard, either from a U.S. president or from their own leaders. In doing so, Israelis finally got a chance to understand the depth of this president's commitment to their security, their prosperity, and their future, and to understand why this commitment is directly linked to the longstanding U.S. commitment to the achievement of peace.
When President Obama visits Israel this week, he will attempt neither to unmoor the old peace process nor outfit a new one. But with new leverage in hand, a determined Secretary of State John Kerry at the helm, and riding a wave of domestic and worldwide popularity, the president may never have stronger winds at his back in the search for Israeli-Palestinian peace. To take advantage of them, he will soon need to open his sails. If the president hopes to ever make any real headway, however, he should first rid his outlook of an old trope that has become an excuse for inaction: the idea that "The U.S. cannot want peace more than the parties themselves."
Each year at Passover, Jews read this line in the haggadah, "In every generation a person is obligated to see themselves as if they had left Egypt." Why? Because each of us should understand that in our generation, just as in our ancestors' generation, the status quo is not inevitable. The pharaohs of Egypt thought themselves gods, considered themselves invincible, and believed that their power could not be overthrown.
When President Obama flies into Israel Wednesday, he will see from Airforce One this huge sign that Peace Now activists lay down to welcome his message of peace. The sign, 180 feet long and 50 feet wide, is located in the fields of Kibbutz Nahshon, half-way between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, on the route that large incoming jets use when they land at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport.
by Rabbi Dr. Aryeh Cohen
Washington, DC - On behalf of Americans for Peace Now (APN) and on the eve of President Obama's historic visit to Israel, APN President and CEO Debra DeLee issued the following statement:
------------------------------------------
Click HERE to read APN's statement welcoming Obama's Israel visit.
------------------------------------------
Alpher discusses the new Israeli government, the confluence of the new government with President Obama's arrival, the policy options to be discussed during the visit, and the political ramifications of the final composition of Netanyahu's new government.
Last week I raised concerns about Dennis Ross's new 14-point peace plan, which would gut the very notion of the two-state solution. Ross's approach is the most prominent manifestation of a growing trend toward the acceptance of a seductive new logic that has emerged in the context of the current Israeli-Palestinian deadlock. According to this line of thought, breaking the deadlock requires an approach that falls comfortably within Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's pro-"Greater Israel" political comfort zone, but that can somehow still be marketed as "pro-peace."
Last month, APN launched a planned giving program. Donors are invited to take us into consideration when thinking about their future. We tell them that our cause is a marathon rather than a sprint. It's not a struggle we'll win overnight. We will win it, though, if we continue to support the Israel we love and the goal of a two-state solution. APN remains the best hope for Israel's future. Please take a look at our new legacy giving program - another way you can support APN.
The news broke only hours ago: after 40 days, an agreement has finally been reached on a new Israeli governing coalition, with the new government to be sworn in next week. This news is the culmination of weeks of dramatic and sometimes melodramatic political machinations and theatrics, including public bargaining and issuing of ultimatums, coming on the heels of elections that yielded surprising results. In the end, the new Israeli ruling coalition will be composed of Netanyahu's Likud-Beiteinu faction (31 seats), aligned with Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid faction (19 seats) and Naftali Bennett's Jewish Home party (12 seats), and cemented by Tzipi Livni's HaTnuah faction (6 seats), with key ministries parceled out among the various parties.
Alpher discusses what is his initial assessment of the emerging new Netanyahu government, and whether Netanyahu emerges a winner or a loser from these elections, how do you think Israelis will respond to President Obama's public speech before Israeli students on March 21 (rather than addressing the Knesset during his upcoming visit), and whether there is any strategic significance for the Israel-Syria situation in the brief abduction last week of Filipino UN troops by Syrian rebels.
Just in time for President Obama's long-awaited trip to Israel, perennial Israeli-Palestinian policy strategist Dennis Ross has published his 14-point plan to achieve Middle East peace. Ross claims that by following this plan, Israelis and Palestinians can "chip away at the sources of each side's belief about the other's commitment to a genuine two-state solution."
My name is Etai Mizrav. I'm an Israeli who is currently taking time out from Israel to complete a Master's program in Public Policy at Georgetown University in Washington, DC.
Up until recently I was the activities manager of Israel's Shalom Achshav (Peace Now) movement. My position put me at the forefront of progressive efforts to fight the extremism that has been creeping deeper and deeper into Israel's public arena. I am also a reserve officer, a Major in the IDF, and a proud Zionist. More
Today AIPAC supporters are on the Hill. One of their goals will be to tell your elected members of Congress what is "pro-Israel" when it comes to Iran. Specifically, they will be asking your House member to co-sponsor and eventually vote for HR 850 - the latest in a long line of AIPAC-backed Iran sanctions bills - and they will be asking your Senators to co-sponsor and eventually vote for S. Res. 65 - nicknamed by some the "Backdoor to War" resolution, since it effectively gives a green light for Israeli military action against Iran that, if carried out, would almost certainly require the U.S. to join the fight.
Contact your Representative and Senators today and tell them that pro-Israel doesn't mean blindly supporting AIPAC's Iran initiatives.
Washington, DC - APN today released the following statement with respect to two new AIPAC-backed legislative initiatives on Capitol Hill:
.
Alpher discusses whether Netanyahu will form a government by the new deadline of March 16th, what the appointment of Philip Gordon as White House coordinator for the Middle East might tell us about Obama's approach to the Israeli-Palestinian issue in his second term, and whether there is any hope at all for Turkish-Israeli rapprochement,
When I decided to major in Arabic at my West Jerusalem high school in the mid-1970s, my Arabic teacher sent me to East Jerusalem to purchase al-Munjid, the mother of all Arabic dictionaries. This behemoth encyclopedic Arabic-Arabic dictionary was imported from Beirut through Jordan for Palestinian students, and available only at two East Jerusalem book stores. The day after I bought it, I took this incredibly heavy book to school because I wanted the teacher to help me solve a mystery: Why was "The State of Israel" rubber-stamped on al-Munjid's maps, not inside the Land of Israel but rather in the Arab Peninsula, in the Atlantic Ocean, in the Egyptian desert and on the shores of western Turkey?
Alpher discusses whether with West Bank unrest growing, we are on the cusp of a third intifada, why Israeli coalition negotiations are stalled, what Netanyahu can do at this point, and why Israel has granted a license to drill for oil on the Golan Heights, which under international law is occupied Syrian territory.
A Purim message from Jim Klutznick, APN Chair
Many people think of Purim as a children's holiday, but Purim is not a Jewish Halloween with dress up and cookies. On Purim, it is said, everything is turned upside down. Topsy-turvy. Haman's plan to kill all the Jews of Persia was thwarted by the Jewish Queen of Persia, Esther. Haman was hung when Esther's plea to the King to save her people paid off. Ultimately, the Purim story is a story of Jewish survival. On this holiday, Jews throughout the world read this story from a book contained in the Jewish Bible - Megillat Esther. Megillat Esther can be understood to mean "to expose the hidden." More
This week, Alpher discusses how last week's North Korean nuclear test impacts Israel's calculations regarding Iran's nuclear program, whether we should be concerned, considering President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to Cairo earlier this month, posing the specter of Iranian collaboration with the Muslim Brotherhood against Israel, and why Russia continues to prevent more serious international measures against the Assad regime.
APN is launching a planned giving program. Donors are invited to take us into consideration when thinking about their future. We tell them that our cause is a marathon rather than a sprint. It's not a struggle we'll win overnight. We will win it, though, if we continue to support the Israel we love and the goal of a two-state solution. APN remains the best hope for Israel's future. Please take a look at our new legacy giving program - another way you can support APN.
This is the fifth in a series of reviews of new books on Middle Eastern affairs. We asked Dr. Gail Weigl, an APN volunteer and a professor of art history, to review this newly published delicious book about the culinary culture of the city at the heart of the conflict.
Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi, Jerusalem: A Cookbook (Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2012). 319 pages. $35.00
With the opening image of Jerusalem aglow with morning light, the reader enters the sensory feast that is Jerusalem: A Cookbook.
As with the photograph, the Introduction anticipates the "complicated pedigree" of the recipes to follow, and alerts us to the all-encompassing approach of an Israeli and a Palestinian, chefs who met in London and became friends and business partners bound by their passion for cooking and their nostalgia for the city of their birth and childhoods.
On February 11th, APN sponsored, together with the Foundation for Middle East Peace, J Street, the Middle East Institute and Churches for Middle East Peace, a Washington event with Israeli Mideast expert Menachem Klein of Bar-Ilan University. Professor Klein structured his address as public advice to President Obama on how the President should re-energize America's brokership of Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts.
To listen to the full audio recording of Professor Klein's address, click here:
Israel's Peace Now movement on Sunday marked the 30th anniversary of the assassination of Emil Grunzweig, one of the movement's leaders, at an anti-war rally in Jerusalem.
Alpher discusses the interaction of the dynamics of President Obama coming to Israel shortly after PM Netanyahu is expected to present his new coalition, where does Netanyahu's coalition-forming project currently stand, the positions Netanyahu and Obama will present to one another on the key issues at stake, and what should the administration consider proposing when Obama comes to Jerusalem, in order to ensure a degree of harmony and the prospect of progress on the Palestinian issue.
Benjamin Netanyahu Failed With His Most Pandered-To Crowd
How did Benjamin Netanyahu do in West Bank settlements?
Considering his party's pro-settlement policies and the staunch pro-settlement positions of its leading Knesset members, you'd expect Netanyahu's Likud-Beiteinu list to perform better among West Bank settlers than it did in Israel proper. It didn't.
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.
Washington, DC - Americans for Peace Now (APN) today warmly welcomed President Obama's plans to visit Israel in the spring, and called on the President to use his leadership skills and his gravitas to re-accredit America's leadership role in pursuing Mideast peace and his administration's commitment to saving the two-state solution.
(Picture: Then candidate Obama at the Western Wall in Jerusalem in 2008)
Alpher discusses last week's IAF attack on strategic weaponry inside Syria, whether it is a one-off warning shot or a harbinger of things to come and what can we expect in the months ahead, what we can make of last week's - later denied- reports that Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal asked Jordan's King Abdullah II to inform the United States that Hamas accepts the two-state solution, how important the economic dimension is to stability in the Israel-Arab context
Washington, D.C. - Americans for Peace Now (APN) today warmly welcomed the Senate's confirmation of Senator John Kerry as the next Secretary of State. APN praised Kerry's strong track record as a foreign policy leader and reiterated its call for President Obama to re-engage urgently and resolutely to save the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
This is the fourth in a series of reviews of new books on Middle Eastern affairs. We asked Dr. Gail Weigl, an APN volunteer and a professor of art history, to review Dan Kurtzer's new book about America's role in advancing Israeli-Palestinian peace.
Alpher discusses the issues confronting the political principals of the recent Israeli elections as they move into coalition negotiations, who are the candidates for minister of defense, whether Israel can draw any lessons from the massive terrorist attack on a remote desert gas field in Algeria and the ensuing drama.
On Tu Bishvat, many people will be planting trees for peace. Others will be cutting them down. Which will you be?
On January 11th, dozens of settlers from the illegal outpost of Esh Kodesh raided the village of Qusra and uprooted at least 210 olive trees. This kind of destruction is incessant. In October, 2012, alone, the Israeli press noted settlers destroyed nearly 600 olive trees in six Palestinian West Bank towns, not including stolen olive harvests and additional damage to trees. A UN report notes that between January and mid October 2012, settlers destroyed more than 7,500 olive trees.
It is an astonishing amount of destruction against the property of Palestinians, and against the very symbol of peace and hope for a future - the branches of an olive tree.
This week Israelis went to the polls to elect members of the 19th Knesset. The results of these elections surprised pollsters and pundits alike. APN provides resources to help you understand what happened, what could happen next, and what it all means.
Alpher offers a preliminary assessment of the Israeli election and discusses the broad ramifications of the narrow victory for Binyamin Netanyahu and surprise showing for Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid party, the coalition possibilities, and what characterized this election in contrast with previous ones.
Israel votes: preliminary assessment
Americans for Peace Now (APN) released the following statement today from Debra DeLee, its President and CEO:
We congratulate the people of Israel for holding free and fair elections yesterday for the 19th Knesset. With these elections, and their myriad surprises, Israelis have reminded the world of Israel's deep culture as a pluralistic democracy and have clearly rejected the status quo policies of the past four years of government led by Benjamin Netanyahu.
Sensation!
The results of the exit polls, published by Israeli TV channels as polling stations closed, are nothing short of a sensation.
Washington, DC - APN today sent a letter to President Barack Obama congratulating him on his inauguration for a second term in office and urging him to act quickly, resolutely and decisively to save the two-state solution. APN President and CEO Debra DeLee commented:
On December 31, 2012, Time Magazine published an article entitled, "The West Bank's 2012: The Year of the Israeli Settlement." Earlier this week, the Israeli Peace Now movement released a new report that makes a case for a different title: 2009-2013: the Years of the Israeli Settlements. The new report (which I co-authored) details the Netanyahu government's record on settlements over the course of its past 4 years in office. The results are incontrovertible: by every objective measure, the Netanyahu government has demonstrated that it is determined to use settlements to destroy the very possibility of the two-state solution.
On January 21, 2013, Barack Obama will be inaugurated for his second term as the 44th president of the United States of America. As this day nears, it seems inevitable that he should be thinking about the legacy that he wants to leave after eight years at the helm of this great country. In the Israeli-Palestinian arena, the arc of history has dealt him a clear, binary choice: he can go down in history as the U.S. president who fought for and saved the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, or he can go down in history as the president on whose watch the two-state solution was lost, at the cost of the vital interests of both Israel and the United States.
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.
The ad says, "In 2009, the average turnout rate at West Bank settlements was 80%, it was only 57% in Tel-Aviv, Haifa and Beer Sheva. Don't let others decide for you. Go vote!"
With less than two weeks to go before Israel's general elections, Israel's Peace Now movement launched a get-out-the-vote drive aimed at urging Israelis to come to the polls on Election Day.
Alpher discusses Netanyahu's options on January 23 for forming a governing coalition, what coalition options might emerge from these, how former PM Olmert's accusations of Netanyahu wasting NIS 11 billion over the past four years on "military delusions" plays in the elections, and more on the the saga of Mahmoud Abbas asking to absorb Palestinian refugees fleeing Syria: everyone takes yet another opportunity to miss an opportunity.
"Living in a movie" (likhyot be-seret) is a Hebrew slang expression that means being detached from reality or living in a parallel universe.
That expression came to mind when Israel yesterday celebrated - justifiably so - the nomination of two Israeli documentaries as finalists for the Academy Awards.
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.
In the Oscar-nominated The Gatekeepers, Israel's domestic spymasters make the price of occupation clear.
As I watched The Gatekeepers in a small hall in Jerusalem, three thoughts kept repeating in my mind. The first was that if the new Israeli documentary were showing on prime-time television rather than in tiny cinematheque auditoriums, the country's vapid election campaign might morph turn into an urgently needed debate on the occupation. The second was that once the film opens in U.S. theaters on February 1, its interviewees--former heads of Israel's Shin Bet security service--will probably not be invited to speak before certain "pro-Israel" groups in America, the kind that conflate support of Israel with silencing criticism of Israel policies. The film's Oscar nomination for best documentary will not be celebrated in those organizations.
Alpher offers predictions regarding Israel-related strategic developments in 2013, and discusses why Israel just agreed to allow Hamas to import large quantities of building materials, whether the renewed readiness of Hamas and Fateh to discuss reconciliation reflect deference to Egypt's Islamist leadership, what has happened in the two weeks since he mentioned Palestinian President Abbas' offer to absorb Palestinian refugees fleeing the violence in Syria and suggested Israel and Jordan assist in this effort.
On January 2, 2013 APN hosted leading Israeli political commentator, Akiva Eldar for a briefing call on Israel's political scene, three weeks before the general elections.
Alpher discusses why Israel's two largest parties, Likud Beitenu and Labor, are both dropping in pre-election opinion polls, whether the High Court's allowing Balad candidate Hanin Zoabi to run in the elections was a victory for enlightenment and pluralism in Israel, and if there are differences in approach among the three electorally-significant Arab parties.
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.
Alpher discusses the current state of the Arab revolutions; how Syria is moving in a different direction from Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen; what, if anything, would Alpher have Israel do in Arab revolutions; how should Israel address Palestinians fleeing the violence in Syria, especially in the context of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas offering last week to absorb them
APN's Director of Policy and Government Relations Lara Friedman took part in a panel discussion at the New America Foundation on the viability of Israeli-Palestinian peace. The discussion, sponsored by the Arab American Institute and the New America Foundation's Middle East Task Force, marked the launch of a new public opinion survey on what Palestinians and Israelis want in a peace deal and what their thoughts are about the prospects for achieving it.
Full video of the event is available here. Check out Lara's powerful defense of the two-state solution starting at 57:10.
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.
Americans for Peace Now mourns the death of Lt. General (Res.) Amnon Lipkin Shahak, Israeli military's former Chief of Staff, a man who devoted his life to Israel's security and peace.
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.
The ADL came out last week with its Top 10 list of "Issues Affecting Jews in 2012,"a list that conspicuously omits mention of many of the most troubling issues affecting Jews this past year. Below is a list of the most glaring omissions.
Open letter to PM Netanyahu says controversial settlement expansion could be 'final blow to a peaceful solution'
Washington, DC - More than four hundred US rabbis, cantors, rabbinical students and cantorial students are expressing grave concern about Israel's plans to advance the construction of settlements in the controversial E1 area of the West Bank and authorizing thousands of new housing units in East Jerusalem.
Alpher discusses whether there is an Israeli perspective on the Sandy Hook massacre, the danger of a new intifada in the West Bank, how Arab leaders are responding to the prospect of a new intifada, how a new intifada might affect Israel's elections, the possible evolution of a Palestinian state by 2030, and how the indictment of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and his subsequent resignation are likely to affect Likud Beitenu's election chances.
Last week we alerted you to an anti-peace, anti-Palestinian letter in Congress, urging you to contact your Member of Congress and ask them not to sign on. That letter has now been held open for signatures through the end of this week - a development that means that your activism is working, and the letters' backers are having trouble getting large numbers of members to sign on.
If you already contacted your member of Congress on this issue, thank you! If you didn't, there is still time!
Alpher discusses what broad insights emerge about the state of politics in Israel can be derived from the submitted party lists for the January 22 elections,what Khaled Meshaal's first visit to the Gaza Strip signals about the direction Hamas is likely to adopt regarding both Israel and reconciliation with West Bank-based Fateh, and given Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi's cancelling most elements of his unilateral assertion of emergency powers and consideration of postponing the constitutional referendum set for December 15, where is the revolution heading?
In my childhood, Chanukah was a happy time: a new present every day, beautiful light emanating from the Chanukah candles, dreidel games, "nisslach" ('nuts' in Yiddish), good spirits all around. The Chanukah story was a simple tale of good-versus-evil in which we - the good guys - won. The Maccabees were called zealots and their brand of zealotry was applauded and rewarded, no question about it.
more
E-1 is back in the news, with a vengeance. In this document we provide all the information you need to know about this controversial settlement project, as well as answer questions you might have and refute the erroneous or deliberately misleading arguments that are being bandied about.
Ambassador Daniel Shapiro meets with the members of the Americans for Peace Now Israel study tour. The tour has also visited Hebron and E-1, the hotly contested zone for which the Netanyahu government has expedited construction planning in retaliation to the Palestinian UN vote.
Recently, the European Union adopted harsh new Iran sanctions, strongly supported by Israel. Shortly thereafter, Israel announced new East Jerusalem settlement construction. The EU's top official Catherine Ashton, who was about to visit Israel, condemned the announcement in measured terms; Israel's Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, publicly told her, in effect, to shove it. Imagine if in response, Ashton had indefinitely postponed her trip. Imagine that Israeli ambassadors in EU capitals were summoned to the local foreign ministries and read the riot act. Imagine that Israeli press had been alerted, leading to headlines about how Prime Minister Netanyahu and Lieberman were squandering the friendship of the EU and European support on Iran for the sake of settlement expansion.
On December 3rd, 2012, NPR Morning Edition hosts David Greene and Renee Montagne interviewed Daniel Seidemann, on site in Israel with APN activists, on why E1 is not just another settlement.
NPR Morning Edition with Daniel SeidemannAlso, read the transcript at NPR's site here.
Last week, in a resounding vote of confidence for the two-state solution, the UN voted to upgrade the status of the Palestinians to that of "non-member observer state."
Alpher discusses the UN General Assembly decision to recognize a Palestinian observer state , the effect of the vote and its aftermath on Israel's relations with Europe and the United States, what happens now on the ground, a general summation, and where do the Likud and Labor primaries and Livni's decision to run leave us?
Jerusalem, Israel - On a tour to E-1, the corridor that extends between East Jerusalem and the West Bank settlement of Maale Adumim, Americans for Peace Now leaders on Sunday strongly condemned the government of Israel's intention to expedite settlement construction at this sensitive spot.
(Pictured: APN Study Tour Group in E-1 on Sunday, December 2, one day after the announcement of the Israeli Government)
Washington/Jerusalem - Americans for Peace Now (APN) today called on the Obama Administration and the international community to take urgent action to induce the Netanyahu government to abandon its decision to pursue massive new settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. APN's call comes on the heels of reports of a decision of the Netanyahu government to respond to yesterday's action at the United Nations by approving thousands of new settlement units in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and by expediting plans to build the massive new settlement of E-1 - a settlement that, if constructed, would make the implementation of a viable two-state exponentially more difficult, if not impossible.
By Ben Murane
Washington, DC - Welcoming the UN General Assembly's vote to upgrade the status of the Palestinian representation in the UN, Americans for Peace Now (APN) today urged the Palestinians, Israel, the Obama administration and the international community to use the vote as a springboard to launching credible peace negotiations.
A new poll released today by APN's Israeli sister
organization, Peace Now, shows that Israelis overwhelmingly reject the
punitive measure that their foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, has
advocated in response to the Palestinian bid for upgraded status in the
UN's General Assembly. Lieberman has called for Israel to take action
to cause the collapse of the Palestinian Authority as retaliation for
the UN move.
Last month, on September 11th, we sat down to begin drafting this letter to tell you about the vital work of Americans for Peace Now (APN) and the Israeli Peace Now movement.
That date will forever have a powerful meaning for us, as we are sure it does for all Americans. It brings back memories of a terrible tragedy. But it also evokes memories of men and women rushing into burning buildings to save others, at great risk to their own lives. In that sense, the day was a reminder of the incredible strength of the human spirit and of the heroes that quietly live among us.
...the correct line of public diplomacy for Israel is to warmly embrace the idea of establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel and welcoming the UN vote. The Palestinian bid should be seen as an Israeli achievement because affirmation of its contents would be a de facto historic recognition of the borders of Israel and negation of the historic Palestinian aspiration to wipe Israel off the map."
Consistent with APN's longstanding support for peace and a negotiated two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Americans for Peace Now today called on the Obama Administration and the international community to support the Palestinians' bid to upgrade their status at the UN to that of non-member observer state.
Alpher discusses what happens now to Egyptian-Israeli relations; what this campaign tells us about the way Israel and its enemies will be waging war in the coming years; who were the "winners" and the "losers" of this war; and what will the effect be on Israel's upcoming elections.
Washington, DC - Americans for Peace Now (APN) welcomes the announcement of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas and thanks President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton for helping to achieve it.
---------------------------------------------------------APN Resource Page on the Gaza Crisis ---------------------------------------------------------
At the invitation of the New York Times "Room for Debate," APN's Lara Friedman weighed in with analysis of what President Obama can and should do to address the Gaza-Israel crisis and to ensure that any new ceasefire does not become simply an intermission between rounds of violence.
Americans for Peace Now (APN) today issues the following
statement regarding the ongoing escalation between Israel
and the Gaza Strip:
As the Israel-Hamas conflict continues, APN brings you news and analysis on the situation, including our own commentary. Visit our homepage frequently to follow the updates. 
In recent months, Israeli peace activist Gershon Baskin, the founder and co-chair of the Jerusalem-based Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information (IPCRI) was deeply involved in dialogue with Hamas leaders and with Israeli security officials in trying to forge a stable, ceasefire agreement. Israel's launching of the aerial war in Gaza ended his efforts, but is now - ironically - resulting in Israeli-Hamas efforts to reach exactly that kind of long-lasting ceasefire. Baskin talks about his role as a go-between, and asserts that the only way for Israel to reach a sustainable relationship with Hamas is to pursue a peace agreement with the Palestinians' pragmatic leadership in the West Bank, headed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
---------------------------------------------------------
In response to the ongoing Gaza-Israel war, Senators Gillibrand (D-NY) and Kirk (R-IL) this afternoon circulated a resolution that they reportedly hope to have the Senate pass by unanimous consent, possibly as early as this evening. The resolution subject:
expressing vigorous support and unwavering commitment to the welfare, security, and survival of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state with secure borders, and recognizing and strongly supporting its right to act in self-defense to protect its citizens against acts of terrorism.
On November 15th, 2012, Security Expert Yossi Alpher briefed APN supporters and activists on the escalating hostilities between Israel and Hamas.
Listen here
Washington, DC - Americans for Peace Now (APN) today expressed serious concern about the rapidly escalating conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel. APN urges the Obama Administration to urgently engage with Israel, regional parties, and the international community to bring about an immediate halt to the hostilities.
---------------------------------------------------------
For the second consecutive year, the Palestinians are seeking enhanced status at the U.N. It feels like a re-run of 2011, but there are significant legal and political differences that should not be overlooked.
Alpher discusses how Israelis and Arabs received the Obama victory last week and how the Obama victory will affect the administration's treatment of the Iran-nuclear and Israeli-Palestinian issues and how the Obama victory will affect the administration's treatment of the Iran-nuclear and Israeli-Palestinian issues.
Suppose Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told an interviewer that
he'll never recognize Israel or accept any agreement that doesn't give
the Palestinians every inch of historic Palestine, including all of
Jerusalem. He insists on full Palestinian right of return - including
his own right of return to his native Safed, which since 1948 has been
part of Israel -- and maintains that it is the Palestinians' right to
use all means, including violence, to achieve their goals.
Washington, DC - Americans for Peace Now (APN) joins its Israeli sister organization, Shalom Achshav (Peace Now) in condemning a new Israeli government initiative to construct almost 1,300 homes for Israelis in East Jerusalem and in the West Bank settlement of Ariel.
Washington, DC - Americans for Peace Now (APN) today sent the following letter to President Barack Obama, congratulating him on his reelection:
Today's announcement that the Israeli government if moving full steam ahead with the construction of nearly 1300 new settlement units should surprise nobody. The announcement paves the way for construction in Pisgat Zeev and Ramot (settlement neighborhoods of East Jerusalem), as well as in the huge and extremely controversial settlement of Ariel - a settlement located smack-dab in the middle of the northern West Bank, in a location that makes its inclusion as part of Israel under any realistic borders scenario pretty much impossible.
Peace Now activists demonstrated yesterday in Tel Aviv at the Likud's headquarters against the failure of Benjamin Netanyahu's government to endorse Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' peace overture.
The reaction from parts of the American Jewish community to a letter to
Congress from a group of Christian leaders is deeply disturbing.
Alpher talks about Mahmoud Abbas' surprising remarks to Israel TV channel 2 regarding the right of return, borders and violence, the smaller and newer lists worth following in the upcoming Israeli elections and the "phantom" parties that may or may not coalesce.
The Israeli Land Administration announced last week the allocation of
180 new housing units in East Jerusalem for families of people from the
Israeli security forces (the army and police). The decision was made in
accordance with the Israeli Government's decision from 20.5.12 to
allocate units for security people in Jerusalem in "places with special
characteristics that can justify such allocations, according to the ILA
considerations".
Alpher discusses what was most significant about the third Obama-Romney debate last week from an Israeli standpoint, whether the joint electoral list agreed on
last week by Netanyahu and Lieberman ensures a right-wing
victory in Israel's elections, and explains the strange, seemingly contradictory, actions last week: the dramatic bombing raid in Khartoum that was
attributed to Israel, along with an upswing in Hamas rocket attacks from
the Gaza Strip that produced only limited, Israeli retaliation. 
Recent developments in Jerusalem pose a threat to the stability of the city and to the region. The world saw a preview over the recent Jewish holidays, when activists challenged the Israeli-imposed ban on Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount, known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif. Sensitivities at the site tend to peak during any holiday season; however, these latest challenges cannot be dismissed as routine or benign.
Alpher discusses what PM Netanyahu's secret indirect peace negotiations with the
Bashar Assad regime tells us about Netanyahu's readiness for peace, what's been going on with the first week of electoral preparations for the Israeli elections, Republican attacks on the Obama administration's handling of the 9/11 attack in Libya, and the revelation last week that the Israeli military calculated the minimal number of
calories that Gazans should be allowed to consume daily as a means of
determining what foodstuffs to allow into the Strip from Israel
First, on Monday, November 12, 2012, at Noon at The Standard Club in Chicago, Illinois, Hagit will receive the Ethel and Philip Klutznick Prophet of Peace Award.
Then on Thursday, November 15, 2012, she will be the speaker at the APN's Professor Gerald B. Bubis Lecture at Valley Beth Shalom Congregation in Encino, California.
WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Can you imagine Israel without a free, independent,
vociferous and diverse media? Can you imagine Israel without Maariv and
Haaretz? Without biting commentary, investigative reporting and an open,
cacophonous marketplace of views and ideas?
Those who obsessively follow Israeli news as we do know that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for early elections, scheduled for January 22, 2013. APN gives you the background and analysis to understand this latest development and its possible ramifications.
Alpher discusses the Israeli elections: Why is Netanyahu in such a hurry; why is he talking about security; why the Palestinian issue could be relevant; how the current administration has survived so long; what could happen between now and January to change the election situation; how could new parties or coalitions affect the election and how might the outcome of US elections affect those to be held in Israel a few months later?
A month before the US general elections, Israel's prime minister,
Benjamin Netanyahu, threw Israel into an election campaign frenzy when
he announced his intention to dissolve the Knesset and hold early
elections next January. 
Shemini Atzeret -"the Eighth [day] of Assembly"- is celebrated beginning
Sunday night, October 7th. Outside of Israel, a second day is
celebrated which is referred to as Simchat Torah ("the Rejoicing of the
Torah"). In Israel, the holidays of Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah
are combined into one and either name can be used to refer to the
holiday.
Beginning Sunday night, September 30th, the Jewish holiday of Sukkot begins. During the week-long holiday, Jews build a special kind of home to dwell in for the week, called a sukkah. The sukkah is a deliberately temporary house, which can have no more than one permanent wall, and whose roof must be open to the sky, covered only partially by natural materials such as branches. Over the course of the week, meals are eaten in the sukkah, and people gather together to celebrate, and even to sleep. According to tradition, we invite ushpizin - guests in Aramaic - to join us in the sukkah. These guests are the souls of seven Jewish ancestors who each represent a different value that we want to have with us in our sukkah.
Beginning this Tuesday evening and continuing through Wednesday night
the holiday of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, will be observed by
Jews throughout the world. Throughout the season leading up to Yom
Kippur, Jews engage in the accounting of one's soul -cheshbon hanefesh:
we examine our behavior, taking an honest measure of ourselves in the
year that has passed. This self-reflection reaches its pinnacle on Yom
Kippur.
Alpher considers why the Israel Foreign Ministry campaign to portray the "Jewish refugee issue"
as "somehow akin to the narrative of the 1948 Palestinian refugees" is"yet another classic instance of misjudgment and
phony nationalism on the part of the Foreign Ministry under extremists
Avigdor Lieberman and Danny Ayalon, and why he predicted that if the Arab revolutionary virus strikes anywhere that we haven't seen it yet, his candidate would be Jordan.
Washington, DC - APN released the following statement by its President and CEO, Debra DeLee:
"We call on GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney to repudiate his statements suggesting that peace is not possible and that therefore the U.S. should 'kick the ball down the field and hope that ultimately, somehow, something will happen and resolve it.'
Alpher offers a review of the outgoing year, 5772, on domestic issues, including the economy and the social justice movement, international affairs of the past year, including Netanyahu's failures, and a forecast for 5773.
Rosh Hashana dinners at my grandparents' Sephardi home in Jerusalem were as semantically amusing as they were delicious. 
All of us at APN are pained and saddened by the deaths of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three of his colleagues in Benghazi, Libya. We condemn the violence that took their lives and offer our condolences to their family and friends in this time of grief. Ambassador Stevens was a champion of everything we support: tolerance, peace, security and stability, democracy, civil rights, and human rights for all peoples of the region. 
Large-scale economic protests in the West Bank, directed at Mahmoud
Abbas' Palestinian Authority, are of major concern. The riots further
weaken moderate and pragmatic Palestinian leaders, they threaten to
boost the popularity of Hamas and other extremists, and they might spill
over to ignite violent hostilities directed at Israel.Alpher discusses whether Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in trouble politically, how the shrinking in size and domination by right-wing tycoons and
bureaucrats of Israeli print media, television and radio is affecting freedom of information and opinion
about sensitive issues like Iran and the Palestinians, and if an Egyptian demand to amend the
military annex of the peace treaty with Israel to allow for full
Egyptian military deployment in Sinai or the violence and anarchy in the Golan threatening Israel's
demilitarization agreement with Syria could affect Israeli thinking on the territories-for-peace principle that
underlies past and, hopefully, future peace agreements.
The recent evacuation of the illegal outpost known as Migron, following numerous decisions of the Israeli Supreme Court, is a clear victory for democracy and rule of law in Israel, notwithstanding the fact that marks neither the end of settlement activity nor the beginning of the implementation of the two-state solution. After years of legal battles, Peace Now succeeded in having the Court compel the Israeli government to respect and enforce its own laws, despite strong political pressure not to. 
Writing in today's Hebrew-language edition of Yediot Ahronot, Peace Now Secretary General Yariv Oppenheimer challenges the despair and defeatism that gives rise to the view that the settlers' have already won and the two-state solution is dead. Translation by Israel News Today.
Last spring, an event galvanized a segment of American Jews like no other. People knew it was going to change their lives and they wanted to stop it. There were weeks of Facebook comments decrying it. Petitions were launched. The Jewish community became galvanized.
You remember - the Trader Joe's supermarket chain announced that its chocolate chips would no longer be certified as kosher pareve (containing no dairy or meat products), and would instead be kosher dairy.
Read the full letterAlpher responds to questions on:
I have some great news to share: Peace Now - our sister organization in Israel - has succeeded in forcing the Israeli government to impose the rule of law and evacuate Migron, the largest illegal outpost in the West Bank. Yesterday, the Israeli High Court of Justice rejected the latest effort by settlers to prevent the outpost's evacuation, ruling that the outpost must be evacuated by next Tuesday, September 4th.
Justices accept state's position regarding some structures, says those homes remain up until three months, until the veracity of the purchasers claims can determined.Alpher discusses Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's motives for apparently declaring war on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and his view regarding if and when Israel should take the military initiative on Iran revisiting his set of criteria for determining whether it was wise for Israel to attack Iran's nuclear project.
"Why don't you come spend Shabbat with us on our settlement, come to the
synagogue and see for yourself that we don't have horns and there is no
occupation?" I get such an invitation practically word for word every
few months from settlers who wish to present the appearance of a
normative, moral and virtuous community beyond the Green Line.Q. ...how can Netanyahu
emerge from this showdown with the United States and his own security
establishment (on his approach to Iran) without losing face?
Tell Obama: Don't Be Pressured Into War with Iran
With the 2012 election season in high gear, Iran hawks in both parties and their Israeli counterparts, including Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Barak, are pressing for war.
by Daniel Byman and Natan Sachs
(p. B4) by Ofer Petersburg Alpher discusses the controversy within Israel and between it and the Obama administration regarding the wisdom and timing of an attack on Iran: what would Israel gain? What would be the downside? Why are Netanyahu and Barak having so much difficulty in persuading the Israeli public that Israel should do the job, and soon, Why the Israeli civilian rear is such an important factor in Israeli calculations when it wasn't in the past, the odds of an early Israeli attack, and the strategic implications of Morsi's dramatic subordination of the Egyptian military to his authority.
Israel will return home with no Olympic medal for the first time in two decades and Egypt prepares for an attack in Sinai making top stories in Hebrew papers this morning. Iran will be turning off its internet and Morocco hosted an Israeli delegation - along with an highly unusual meeting...
read moreAlpher discusses whether the terrorist incident in the Sinai on Sunday with the Egyptian soldiers is an internationally significant event, comments on Dani Dayan's opinion piece in the New York Times, and the dissonance between Netanyahu's government's policies and his quiet agreement with the Palestinian Authority to improve the PA's economic situation through more efficient cooperation.
Last month saw an assault in Congress on Palestinian refugees--an effort to use legislation to re-define the Palestinian refugee issue out of existence. This week the other shoe dropped, when a bipartisan group of members of Congress introduced a new bill embracing the cause of "Jewish refugees from Arab countries" in a way that Congress has never replicated on the Palestinian side (for more info, see this list of all bills/resolutions dealing with Palestinian and/or Jewish refugees since 1989).
read more at the Daily Beast's Open Zion
Instead of tax hikes - stop indulging the settlementsAlpher discusses whether the Romney visit to Israel is significant for US-Israeli relations, the return of the controversy over a possible Israeli attack on Iran prior to US elections, whether the flourishing relations between Gaza-based Hamas and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood are really inspiring thoughts of declaring that Gaza is an autonomous Palestinian state and how this could affect Israel's interests.
Today's New York Times features an op-ed by Dani Dayan, the head of the Yesha Council (the group that represents settlers and their interests). There isn't really any news here: it shouldn't surprise anyone that the settlers want the world to believe that settlements are good, peace efforts are pointless, and that the way forward should be premised on leaving all settlements in place, and leaving the West Bank under Israeli control, in perpetuity. Nonetheless, it is worth examining some representative snippets from this high profile op-ed.
Alpher discusses Kadima's political prospects, the link between Burgas and the Assad regime, what a post-Assad Syria's challenges for Israel, and the misdirected recognition of the college in Ariel.
Washington, DC - Americans for Peace Now (APN) strongly condemns the bombing in Bulgaria today, which targeted Israeli tourists and killed seven innocent civilians.Alpher discusses the significance of the Levy committee report, the fate of Olmert in politics, and the possibility of a near-term Israeli military strike against Iran.
Peace Now's Hagit Ofran woke up today to another death threat. Again,
someone sprayed graffiti on her home in Jerusalem, saying: "Hagit you
are dead." This is the third time in less than a year that hateful,
threatening slogans are spray-painted at the home of Hagit, who directs
Peace Now's Settlement Watch project.
"It's not about shame. It's about mutual responsibility... Segal says that American Jews are not obligated to call out injustice wherever they see it. But do the sages agree? The above passage suggests that Jews are obligated to rebuke, especially other Jews, whenever they see evil done, regardless of who is doing it."
On July 12, Hagit Ofran of Israel's Peace Now movement briefed APN on the significance and potential repercussions of the Levy report.
Levy Report Briefing Call
The Levy Report has generated an astonishing number of responses.
Having trouble keeping abreast of all the important details? APN is your
one-stop resource for information and analysis.
Is it 1984?
It seems to be. George Orwell gave us, in his book by that name, the term "Doublethink," in which "war is peace, freedom is slavery, and ignorance is strength." The Levy Committee - an Israeli government Committee- with a straight face expects us to believe that occupation can be erased simply by defining it out of existence. But no one does believe it.
Reject Doublethink! Tell Ambassador Oren that Israel's future rests on rejecting the Levy Committee report.
Washington, DC - Americans for Peace Now (APN) today joined its Israeli sister organization, Peace Now (Shalom Achshav) in calling on the government of Israel to repudiate the findings of the commission it appointed to address the problem of illegal outposts in the West Bank. APN calls on other US Jewish groups that support the two-state solution to raise their voices in opposition to this report.
(Pictured: Committee Chairman Levy presents report to Prime Minister Netanyahu superimposed over APN's Settlement Map)
Alpher discusses how the issue of universal national service in Israel has come to dominate the political scene, Mofaz and the peace process, and what happened to the Palestinian demand for an Israeli commitment to the 1967 lines and a genuine settlement freeze.
A former IDF medical officer and a Palestinian from a refugee camp are seeing the conflict in a whole new way this summer.
Washington, DC - Americans for Peace Now (APN) urges the plenary of the Presbyterian Church (USA) not to adopt the resolution approved yesterday by its Middle East and Peacemaking Issues Committee (Committee 15) to divest from companies, over Israel's use of their products in ways that allegedly violate Palestinian human rights.
Washington, DC - Americans for Peace Now (APN) joins the people of Israel in mourning the death of Yitzhak Shamir, Israel's seventh prime minister, who died Saturday at the age of 96.
APN's president and CEO Debra DeLee said: "Prime Minister Shamir was a patriot who cared deeply about his country's security and wellbeing. We did not agree with his hardline policies on peace with the Palestinians and with Israel's neighboring Arab states, but we recognized Mr. Shamir's dedication to his country and his people and his deep sense of responsibility for Israel's security. We send our deepest condolences to the Shamir family and to the people of Israel."
Alpher discusses the situation in Syria, including Saturday's Geneva meeting of UN and Arab League "Action Group," how Israel fits into that situation, and the legacy of Yitzhak Shamir.
The independent Palestinian polling firm AWRAD (Arab World for Research & Development) this week published a new poll of Palestinian students in West Bank campuses that recently had student council elections. Poll results show - among other things - that among West Bank students, the Palestinian governments' approval ratings (both that of the Fatah-led government in the West Bank and that of the Hamas-led government in the Gaza Strip) are very low.
The evacuation of the five illegally-built houses in the West Bank settlement of Beit El was completed without any confrontations between the settlers and the police.As part of the political crisis around the Ulpana Hill outpost, PM Netanyahu announced a "compensation package" for the settlers in which 851 new units will be built in disputed areas in the West Bank.Alpher discusses how we should we understand the situation in Egypt, whether Mofaz's, leader of the Kadima party who recently joined the Netanyahu government as a deputy prime minister, visit to Washington last week where he promoted his ideas for renewing the Israeli-Palestinian peace process points the way toward some sort of new peace initiative, and if the new enlarged and more "central" Netanyahu coalition might constitute a first step toward a Likud-Kadima-Atzmaut union and a pragmatic peace plan.
Extremist settlers are escalating their campaign to resist Israeli government attempts to remove five illegally built houses at the West Bank settlement of Beit El, near Ramallah. As government representatives seem to be inching toward an agreement with settler leader to peacefully evict the houses, some of the more militant settlers are escalating their actions and rhetoric to try to hinder the eviction.
The first videotaped testimony from the "Dis-Cover the Occupation" campaign of the Israeli organization Breaking the Silence has a soldier recalling how he witnessed settler children burning a Peace Now effigy.
Watch this from among the 800 testimonies given by Israeli soldiers after serving in the occupied territories.
What do you call a unilateral "withdrawal" that leaves Israeli settlers and soldiers behind? The answer: Continued occupation.
--------------------
With Israeli-Palestinian efforts at an impasse and immediate-term hopes for progress toward any agreement fading, the appeal of new ideas is understandable. This is no doubt why discussion of Israeli unilateral options--generally in terms of unilateral "withdrawals" from the West Bank--is in the air.
Neve Shalom ("Oasis of Peace"), a small community in which Jewish and Arab Israeli citizens choose to live together, was vandalized last night, apparently by settlers or settler-sympathizers. Graffiti saying "Death to the Arabs" was sprayed on Neve Shalom's bilingual school. Several cars were vandalized with hateful graffiti. The tires of fourteen cars were punctured.
...His name is Yariv Oppenheimer (Peace Now Secretary General), and he drives the settlers mad because he has succeeded time and again in placing a few boundaries for this band of people, who are certain that the entire area beyond the Green Line is their private domain, and they can do with it as they please without interference.
...With diligence and courage, Oppenheimer and his activists succeed in confronting the settlers, undeterred by threats, online comments bordering on madness, burning hatred and defamations...
By Yael Paz-Melamed
The ugly reports keep rolling in. A rally against African migrants turns
violent and a race riot ensues; the whole thing is repeated a week
later. A Jewish-Israeli of Ethiopian descent is "mistaken" for a migrant
and assaulted in Tel Aviv. A group of teenagers in Tel Aviv is arrested
for a series of brutal, racially-motivated robberies and assaults
targeting Africans. A Sudanese man is viciously beaten in Tel Aviv. A
Sudanese hotel worker is nearly lynched in Eilat. An apartment in
Jerusalem is torched with 10 Eritreans trapped inside.
A few weeks ago, Americans for Peace Now sent out my letter asking you stop being defensive about what our adversaries say about us. They have been accusing us of all kinds of nonsense - when actually, APN and our sister organization Shalom Achshav, have been working for the only possible solution that will lead to peace and security for Israel. If you want to see what effect we are having, read this editorial published yesterday by the editor and columnist Yael Paz-Melamed for the Israeli daily Ma'ariv.
"Building 300 housing units in Beit El and expanding other settlements are not a punishment to Peace Now but a punishment to all the citizens in this country..."
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Netanyahu was quoted with regard to the litigation of Peace Now and other organizations, that they should know for every illegally built structure in the settlements that he will be compelled to demolish by court order, he will build ten.
In response, Peace Now published an open letter to him as an ad in the Hebrew media, and is collecting signatures to be sent to the Prime Minister.
By James Klutznick, APN's Chairman of the BoardAlpher offers some thoughts regarding Israeli strategic policies
Pop star Madonna deserves praise for her tribute to Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts. The world's top selling female recording artist of all times chose to launch her new world tour in Israel. She is using the podium and the global attention to help advance Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts.
Dear Friend of Israel,
Who would you least expect to see joining a Peace Now tour of West Bank settlements? Right, West Bank settlers.
Alpher discusses the Tel Aviv demonstrations against African migrants, the first round of presidential elections in Egypt and a possible a "Yemeni" solution in Syria, as well as "the Arab mindset" at this time of revolution.
Washington, DC - Americans for Peace Now is mourning the death of Arthur
Stern, one of APN's longtime leaders. Arthur died in his home in Los
Angeles overnight at 87.
You have to laugh, or it would make you cry. That is, if you are someone
who genuinely cares about Israel and believes that the two-state
solution is the only thing that can save Israel as a democracy and a
Jewish state, and that can end the occupation and permit the
Palestinians to live, finally, as a free people with dignity and
self-determination.
The outrage that took place in Tel Aviv last night must be a wake-up call to Israelis and to all American Jews who care about Israel. CHICAGO (JTA) -- When a family member behaves self-destructively, what
do you do? Do you become an apologist, an enabler, or do you call him
out? Do you blame everyone else but him, or do you intervene? Do you sit
back and just hope things will improve on their own, or do you take
urgent action?Alpher discusses the agreement that ended the Palestinian prisoners' mass hunger strike last week, why Egyptian leaders can't do much about the lawlessness in the Sinai, and the spillover effect of the Syrian revolution.
Congress this past week made an effort to send a tough message on Iran - both to Iran and to the White House - as the Obama administration and its allies prepare for the May 23rd talks with Iran. APN expressed concern about some of this congressional action, but also welcomed some of this week's developments on Capitol Hill regarding Iran. 
Thank you so much for taking action on H. Res. 568 - it made a difference (see below). Now we need you to follow up and take action one more time this week.
Tell your member of Congress: Sign the Price-Dreier letter to President Obama.
The House is scheduled to vote tomorrow on H. Res. 568, an Iran-focused resolution that seeks to lower the bar for war, to tie the President's hands in negotiations, and to effectively take all options, except the military option, off the table. It appears to be no coincidence that this resolution is being brought to a vote now, just as a new round of Iran diplomacy is set to take place on May 23. 
Netanyahu's last-minute unity governmentAPN hosted leading Israeli political commentator, Akiva Eldar of Haaretz on May 10th, for a briefing call on the latest dramatic political developments in Israel.
Americans for Peace Now Board Member Mandy Patinkin today toured the West Bank and East Jerusalem with Israel's Peace Now movement and spoke at an annual conference of Israel's peace camp, addressing a crowd of 700 progressive activists.
Thank you, Ambassador Oren. On Sunday you told an audience in Detroit what "pro-Israel" means. 
Last night's dramatic news caught everyone by surprise: following secret
negotiations, the Kadima party has agreed to join Benjamin Netanyahu's
government, establishing a "unity government." On its face, this
breathtaking political development in Israel does not promise a
breakthrough toward peace. But as it is with every major shakeup, the
new alliance between Israel's largest parties also presents
opportunities.
The Israeli Supreme Court handed another ruling, on May 7th, blasting the Israeli government's position on illegal West Bank "outposts, built on land privately owned by Palestinians. Peace Now's lawyer, Michael Sfard, talks about the case and its significance.
Israel's Peace Now movement is sponsoring a conference that will bring together next week Israel's progressive forces - politicians, activists, pundits and simple citizens - to discuss the Peace Camp's agenda going ahead. Peace Now's Secretary General Yariv Oppenheimer discusses the conference and the political environment in Israel.
Drafting the Orthodox
The Forward's interview with Mousa Abu Marzook highlights some fundamental truths about peacemaking: You make peace with your enemies, not your friends; you make peace not to be nice, but because it is in your self-interest; real peace must reflect a balance of interests, not an imbalance of power, and security arrangements, not trust, will be the foundation of any peace treaty.
Who's Responsibile for the Diplomatic Stalemate? by Ori Nir
The next time people tell you that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is the only one responsible for the of Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic stalemate, send them to Shimon Peres and Yuval Diskin. This weekend the world got a close-up view of the growing rift between Israel's own security experts and its politicians. The venue was a conference in New York organized by the Jerusalem Post. During the conference a public argument over Iran broke out between former Israeli Mossad chief Meir Dagan and Israeli Minister of Environment Gilad Erdan, a career Likud politician whose resume does not include any significant military/security experience. 
Q. ...Is the government complying this time with the Court's ruling (to dismantle the Ulpana Illegal Outpost)?
Q. The Independence Day weekend in Israel seems to have invited rather outspoken assessments by prominent Israeli security figures regarding Iran's nuclear program and the Netanyahu-Barak policymaking duo. What does this tell us...?
Q. Why elections so soon? What is happening to trigger them?
This week, we remembered. We remembered, with the people of Israel, their losses in war, their sorrow, and their struggle to build a just and democratic society. This week, we celebrated. We celebrated 64 years of the independence of a young nation, a nation that was born from the tears of generations, a nation based, in the words of David Ben Gurion, on "freedom, justice and peace." From sorrow to joy, we remembered and we celebrated with the people of Israel, knowing that we yet have a long road to walk together until we reach the goal of a nation of equal justice for all, of peace with its neighbors. But with hope, we remembered the past, and looked to the future.
Washington, DC - Americans for Peace Now joins its Israeli sister organization, Peace Now, in strongly denouncing the Israeli government's authorizing of three new West Bank settlements, thus violating its commitment not to establish new settlements and reneging on its longstanding commitment to remove illegal outposts.
In characterizing all non-violent Palestinian measures as terrorism, Israel insults the memory of victims of real acts of terror.
As the Master of Ceremonies at Jerusalem's Mount Herzl announced the end of Yom HaZikaron, Israel's solemn Memorial Day, and ushered in Yom Ha'Atzma'ut, Independence Day, millions of Israelis, having just ended a day of remembrance and mourning for the fallen, are sweeping the streets to celebrate their country's 64th birthday.
Alpher discusses Lt. Col. Shalom Eisner hitting a Danish pro-Palestinian demonstrator with his rifle; the significance of the delivery to PM Netanyahu a list of PLO preconditions for renewing negotiations; two "early warning signs" on the Palestinian issue; and the visit last week to the Temple Mount mosques by the grand mufti of Egypt.Alpher discusses the ceasefire in Syria, the "fly-in" of Palestinian supporters to Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday and ensuing commotion, and why Israel and the US can't agree on freeing Jonathan Pollard.
According to the latest article by Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren,
Israeli democracy is "more robust and effervescent than ever." Reading
his lengthy piece, a variation on Queen Gertrude's quip comes to mind:
"The Ambassador doth protest too much, methinks." 
Go HERE for all installments of APN's "They Say, We Say"
They Say: It is impossible to make peace with Arabs or Muslims, because ultimately they just want to destroy Israel and drive the Jews into the sea.
Alpher discusses Mofaz's upset over Livni in the Kadima leadership primary, whether Marwan Barghouti's appeal for Palestinians to launch a third, "popular" intifada and to boycott all contact with Israel and all Israeli products resonates with Palestinians, and, a decade later, what is the legacy of the conflict of the launching of Israel's massive military response to the second intifada, following the worst Palestinian suicide bombing ever.
Elliott Abrams says J Street (and along with J Street, no doubt, all
Americans and Israelis who define themselves as the pro-Israel,
pro-peace Left) isn't really worried about Israel's fate as a Jewish
state and a democracy.
Every year at this season, we send out a letter underlining the connection between the values of the Passover season and the work we do at APN. This year, we're pleased to send you a letter from the noted writer James Carroll. Carroll is a columnist for the Boston Globe and the author of the National Book Award winning An American Requiem; the New York Times bestselling Constantine's Sword; House of War, which won the first PEN-Galbraith Award; Practicing Catholic; as well as his most recent book Jerusalem, Jerusalem: How the Ancient City Ignited Our Modern World, which was named a 2011 Best Book by Publishers Weekly.
The story of Passover is the story of a journey. As told in the Haggadah, the events leading to the Exodus follow a pattern. But that's in retrospect. Viewed in the moment, the journey must have seemed as inscrutable as the Mideast peace process does today. Even as told in the Torah, it is peopled with multiple characters playing on many stages over many years, with fitful progress followed by inevitable setbacks.
Jo-Ann Mort Vice Chair; Mark Silverberg Secretary/ Treasurer; New Board Members: Rabbi Andy Bachman and Mik Moore
Peter Beinart's recent New York Times article advocating a settlement
boycott has sparked a spectacular public display of Jewish angst.
Apparently for many who view themselves as the judges, advocates and
juries of what is "kosher" progressive Jewish activism, his suggestion
is beyond the pale.Alpher discusses the Israeli high court rejection of the Migron compromise, why Israelis seem oddly relaxed about the dangers of war with Iran, what the murder of Jews in Toulouse by an Islamic extremist tells us about tells us about Islam in Europe that we didn't already know, why the several important dates from this week are indeed so important, and why the Tuareg revolt in Northern Mali may have significance for the Arab revolutions.
There was a lovely surprise at Peace Now's tour of West Bank settlements Friday. Several students from the settlement of Otniel, one of the ideological bastions of the settlement movement, boarded the bus in Jerusalem. Peace Now staffers were concerned that the young settlers and settler-sympathizers were hecklers. "We've had problems in the past with hoodlums who joined our tours only to disrupt," Peace Now's National Activities Coordinator Etai Mizrav told me. 
Yusef Munayyer's essay today in Zion Square suggests that it is unhelpful and distracting to debate whether Jewish-Arab relations in the area that is under Israeli rule between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean are Apartheid-like. He goes on to argue that they actually ARE Apartheid. That assertion, somehow, is supposed to be helpful and non-distracting.
Alpher discusses escalation between Israel and jihadist groups in the Gaza Strip, assesses the danger that a Muslim Brotherhood-dominated government in Egypt would seek to cancel the peace treaty with Israel, and the trending course of Arab revolutions from Libya and beyond.
A recent Saturday Night Live episode opened with a sketch that said a
lot about America's views on war with Iran. In the sketch, Andy Samberg,
playing Rick Santorum, tells the audience that the coming presidential
campaign is about two things: "One, making the family once again the
center of our nation's public policy, and two, starting a war with Iran,
as a favor to Israel, whether Israel asks us to or not." Samberg forgot
to add: "and whether or not it's actually good for the U.S., Israel or
the Jews."
Recently, we asked you to contact your members of Congress to tell them that AIPAC and its supporters don't speak for you when they call for ever-more belligerent U.S. policy on Iran.
By Rabbi Joshua Levine Grater from the Pasadena
Jewish Temple and Center in Pasadena, CA. 
Washington, DC - Americans for Peace Now (APN) today called on the Obama Administration to work with Israel, Egypt, and Palestinian leaders to urgently advance diplomatic efforts to reach a ceasefire on the Israel-Gaza border. 
It is a now famous story: A young Arab man, fed up with the injustices
of life under a military regime, decides he's had enough. By
demonstrating his readiness to die to protest these injustices, the man
powerfully asserts his own humanity and that of millions of his
compatriots. His dramatic display of self-sacrifice inspires millions
and his name becomes known across the Middle East and beyond.Alpher discusses last week's AIPAC conference and Obama-Netanyahu meeting and the talk about Israel, the US and Iran and what happens next.
Jerusalem - Last night I watched here a hypnotizing interview with the world's favorite Israeli author, Amos Oz. He mainly spoke about the writing process, about his novels and his childhood and about his friendship with author David Grossman. Oz told Channel Two interviewer Ilana Dayan that after Grossman lost his son, Uri, during the very last hours of Israel's Second Lebanon War in 2006, he drove to Grossman's home at a Jerusalem suburb and begged him not to stop writing. Oz was anxious that losing Uri might paralyze Grossman and silence him as a writer. 
Jerusalem - On Purim 2012, Israel does not look like a country on the
verge of war. Certainly not like a country on the brink of a nuclear
holocaust. 
Recently, thousands of activists were on Capitol Hill, brought there by
AIPAC. They told members of Congress and their staff that they speak
for all Americans, and especially American Jews, who care about Israel.
These activists told Congress, in effect, to call for war with Iran.
They also sent a message that achieving Israeli-Palestinian peace
shouldn't be a priority.
March 7, 2012
This year, we have seen the Israel Defense Forces, the institution that binds Israel together, attacked - not by Palestinian terrorists or by neighboring armies, but by Israeli citizens, Jewish settlers in the West Bank. In Israel and throughout the world, Jews responded in shock as we saw Jewish extremists attacking not just Palestinians, but other Israelis, including with violence and death threats, as part of an insidious strategy these extremists call "price tag".
With the drumbeat of war against Iran growing louder in Washington, and as thousands of hardline activists prepare to flood Capitol Hill on Tuesday, the voice of the Israeli public on this issue is all but lost. A new poll by Maryland University and the leading Israeli Dahaf polling firm shows that Israelis, realizing the dire consequences of a military strike on Iran, are not as gung-ho as one might expect. Alpher opines on what the Assad regime prevailing in Syria would mean for the Middle East, what Israel and the American Jewish community can do to influence whether or not the Alawite regime in Syria survives, and how Islamist electoral victories thus far (in Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and Kuwait) have already affected civil rights and freedoms.
Americans for Peace Now (APN) commends President Obama for an AIPAC speech that was staunchly pro-Israel, unabashedly pro-peace, and responsible yet sober on Iran.
APN President and CEO Debra DeLee said: "The President's speech today, before a crowd of thousands at the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, was a valuable reminder from the leader of Israel's greatest ally that supporting Israel means supporting peace and sparing no effort to avoid war.
In a few days, President Obama will be speaking in front of thousands of
people gathered in Washington for the annual AIPAC policy conference.
The day after his speech he will be meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu at the White House. It is vital that President Obama hear
from you before these events.
Washington, DC - Ahead of next week's meeting between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - as well as other senior Israeli leaders - Americans for Peace Now today urged the President not to "walk back" from his positions on Israeli-Palestinian peace and not to commit to precipitous military action against Iran.
APN founder Mark Rosenblum just returned from a trip to Israel with members of the Conference of Presidents of Major US Jewish Organizations. APN is a member of the Conference of Presidents, and through its membership, APN attempts to encourage America's organizational Jewish community to adopt more dovish positions on Israel. 
Washington, DC - Americans for Peace Now (APN) expresses concern about the deteriorating situation in Syria and urges the Obama Administration to engage urgently to end the crisis.
APN President and CEO Debra DeLee said: "Last Friday, the U.S., along with the Arab League and other members of the international community, met in Tunis with various Syrian opposition groups, in an effort to end the crisis in Syria. APN commends the Obama Administration for its role in organizing this meeting and the Arab League and Turkey for their own efforts in this crisis.
Alpher discusses what will be on the agenda for the March 5th meeting between Obama and Netanyahu, what the United States could do to stop the slaughter in Syria, what Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad was talking about when he warned publicly that the current "security silence" could collapse at any moment and how seriously we should take him, and what will happen in the aftermath of Israel's high court overturning the Tal law which had regulated a slow trickle of voluntary military service on the part of ultra-orthodox yeshiva students. 
Discussion of military action against Iran is again taking center stage. It takes me back to a late September 2002 meeting, when I brought a former senior Israeli official to see the late Congressman Tom Lantos, then the ranking minority member of the House International Relations Committee. Our meeting focused on Iraq, with Lantos arguing passionately for pre-emptive U.S. military action against Saddam Hussein, who he compared to Hitler. 
Yesterday I wrote that Israel should charge Khader Adnan or set him free. Perhaps recognizing the danger that a martyred Adnan poses to its own interests, Israel has done so, sort of. That is, Israel has not charged Adnan. Nor has it set him free. But it has committed to release Adnan at the end of his "term" in Administrative Detention on April 17th. 
For weeks now I have been tweeting about the case of Khader Adnan, a Palestinian who is dying in an Israeli hospital as he enters the 10th week of a hunger strike.
Alpher discusses why Russia is propping up the Assad regime and how this affects Russia's relations with Israel and the rest of the Arab world, the state of the revolution in Syria, and whether the right-wing organization "Im Tirzu" is fascistic in nature.
We are all concerned about the threat of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons. An Iran armed with nuclear weapons represents an alarming scenario that neither the U.S. nor Israel, nor for that matter, the world, can afford to dismiss, and one that the U.S. and the international community must exert all efforts to avoid.
Most of us are also concerned - and increasingly so - over the growing frenzy of talk about military action against Iran. Military action is unlikely to do more than delay Iran's nuclear program and is almost certain to have far-reaching unintended consequences for the U.S., Israel, and the region.
The fate of Migron, an illegal outpost in the heart of the West Bank, is about to be decided. The implications of this decision are about far more than the future of a handful of settlers in a single outpost. This decision will be a litmus test of Israeli rule of law and, ultimately, of Israel's capacity to make peace with the Palestinians.
How can one outpost be so important?
The Rabbis always understood that the Torah is a document that must be interpreted. Throughout our history we have always understood that we cannot have direct access to God's meaning but are always bounded by the need to put it in human terms. Therefore, insisting that any particular meaning is the only meaning - whether it's about the borders or settling the land, how to dress, or anything else -- is dangerous.
The ongoing work of Peace Now's Settlement Watch program, headed by the formidable Hagit Ofran and readily available at peacenow.org, and frequent analysis by the apparently indefatigable Lara Friedman, American for Peace Now's director of policy and government relations, provide comprehensive -- and disheartening -- details on settlement actions and issues in general.
Fein is an APN Board Member who has written and advocated for progressive Jewish causes since the 1960s. In 1974 he founded Moment magazine, the journal of Jewish ideas, and in 1985 he founded MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger.
Brian Reeves, a graduate student who interned with APN over the summer, is pursuing his graduate studies at Jerusalem's Hebrew University. Following is the first in what we hope will be a series of blog posts commenting on his experience in Israel. Brian is a graduate of Brandeis University, where he was the President of J Street U.
Alpher discusses how Hamas and Fateh signing the "Doha declaration" and moving their reconciliation project a step forward influences the peace process, what international military intervention in Syria might look like, what else, if anything, can Israel do about the daily slaughter in neighboring Syria, and what was the general strike that the Netanyahu government just settled and why is this significant?
Today, February 10, is the 29th anniversary of the murder of Emil Grunzweig. Grunzweig was a reserves paratrooper in the IDF, who fought in the Six-Day War, and served as a reserve officer in the War of Attrition, the Yom Kippur War, and the 1982 Lebanon War. After his discharge, he became an educator and peace activist. Emil was killed during a 1983 Peace Now rally when right-wing activist Yona Avrushmi lobbed a grenade into the crowd.
In the last two days, two more price tag attacks were made against a monastery, a Jewish-Arab bilingual school and the offices of Peace Now in Jerusalem.
APN made online history this week. Our active Facebook page now has over 30,000 fans, more than any US Jewish organization. We use our Facebook page to feature activities, news and views, and to encourage open discussion on the issues. Americans for Peace Now has been leading the pack in providing a fresh voice on Facebook about Israel for over two years.
If you have not done so yet, join our Facebook page and be a part of APN's online conversation.
Rabbi Rachel Goldenberg is the spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Shalom Rodfe Zedek ("house of peace/pursuers of justice!") in Chester, CT. She serves as co-chair of Rabbis for Human Rights-North America and is a member of the Rabbinic Cabinet of JStreet. She is also an alumna of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality.
Alpher discusses why there is such a fuss being made over the 23 percent that Moshe Feiglin won in the Likud leadership primaries, what "confidence-building measures" in the West Bank the Quartet is asking Netanyahu to offer, whether Bashar Assad resembles his father in terms of the violence currently being perpetrated by him, and what the Israeli angle should be on Congress threatening to withhold foreign aid to Egypt unless Cairo stops cracking down on American and other foreign-sponsored democracy-advocacy groups in Egypt.
Q: There is a lot of talk in the Israeli media these days about the outpost of Migron, and Peace Now has launched a major campaign around the issue, with the publication of its document "The Migron File."
This was a winning week for Israel's true patriots, Peace Now's dedicated staff and activists.
Earlier this week, Hagit Ofran, the director of Peace Now's Settlement Watch project, won an esteemed prize, named after her grandfather, iconic philosopher and anti-occupation activist Professor Yeshayahu Leibowitz.
A new presentation by Jerusalem expert Daniel Seidemann demonstrates how planned Israeli settlement construction in East Jerusalem could make the two-state solution impossible by 2013
This week's Torah portion offers us a message about the need for us to act with courage and act decisively to prevent disaster
In this portion, we have many great inspiring moments: crossing the sea to escape Pharaoh, the song of the sea afterwards, the fight against the nation of Amalek. In fact, in this week's Torah portion, the Israelites see literally dozens of miracles - miracles come fast and furious, one after another.
Alpher discusses the Israeli-Palestinian pre-negotiation talks in Amman, interim conclusions from the "Arab spring" one year after the outbreak of the revolution in Egypt and the meaning of the 2009 survey just published on Israeli attitudes towards religiosity.
Peace Now today released the 'Migron File' - a comprehensive dossier containing all the facts and figures, aerial photos and copies of legal documents related to the illegal outpost of Migron (which the Netanyahu government is working frantically to find a way to legalize).
The "Migron File" can be viewed online or downloaded here.
Rabbi Amy Eilberg is the first woman ordained as a Conservative rabbi by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Rabbi Eilberg directs interfaith dialog programs in Minneapolis/St. Paul, and is deeply engaged in peace and reconciliation efforts in connection with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as with issues of conflict within the Jewish community. She is at work on a book on Judaism and peacemaking.
Q. General Martin Dempsey (pictured), chief of the US Armed Forces General Staff, visited Israel last Thursday. The escalating atmosphere with Iran was obviously high on his agenda. How do you view US-Israel strategic coordination regarding Iran?
Q. As election fever appears to heat up in Israel, what are the political balance-of-forces indicators we should be watching and the questions we should be asking?
Go HERE for all installments of APN's "They Say, We Say"
They Say: Settlements are not an obstacle to peace. They take up only a tiny fraction, around 1 percent, of the entire West Bank.
Washington, DC - Americans for Peace Now (APN) strongly condemns the belligerent anti-Jewish comments made by the Palestinian Authority's Mufti of Jerusalem at a public event in the West Bank earlier this month.
Washington, DC -- In the context of recent attacks in the media accusing the Center for American Progress and its staff of anti-Semitism, APN's President and CEO Debra DeLee today issued the following statement:
Americans for Peace Now is excited to welcome a new member into the worldwide Peace Now family. Brits for Peace now. The new organization, a reincarnation of Peace Now UK, is the initiative of several young Brits who have interned with Peace Now in Israel.
One of them, Daniel Arenson, a 25-year-old parliamentary aide and the former Chair of Oxford University Jewish Society, spoke with APN about the new initiative.
Barry Leff is a rabbi and business executive living in Jerusalem. He is the chairman of Rabbis for Human Rights and serves on the board of the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary. He blogs at www.neshamah.net
.
On January 4th the national headquarters of Chabad Lubovitch issued a statement condemning the widely publicized attack by ultra-Orthodox Jews on an 8-year-old girl in the Israeli town of Beit Shemesh last month. That attack triggered outrage in Israel, among friends of Israel in the United States and beyond. Chabad's statement said: "Violent behaviors of individuals or groups who abuse, intimidate and insult others are a flagrant offense to Torah and tzniut (modesty), in both letter and spirit, and deserve to be unequivocally condemned."
Alpher discusses human rights and racism in the wake of martin Luther King's birthday, and the Israeli government's role and reports on the meetings in Amman and their potential political repercussions in the US, Israel and Jordan.
Today, Peace Now released a new report entitled "Torpedoing the Two State Solution -- The Strategy of the Netanyahu Government," detailing a number of trends in settlement expansion that directly, and it seems, deliberately, undermine the viability of the two-state solution.
A new report by Peace Now's Settlement Watch project shows that 2011 was a record year in West Bank settlement construction. Worse, the past years highlighted dangerous trends on the ground in the West Bank, which may end up torpedoing a two-state solution: an Israeli government intention to legalize illegal outposts and thus transform them into full-fledged settlements, and building in sensitive locations such as E-1, Efrat, and Givat Hamatos, which would deny contiguity for a future Palestinian state.
Shaul Magid is the Jay and Jeannie Schottenstein Professor of Modern Judaism at Indiana University/Bloomington. He is also the rabbi of the Fire Island Synagogues in Sea View, NY. His new book American Post-Judaism: Identity and Renewal in a Postethnic Society will be published next year with Indiana University Press.
Alpher discusses the significance of a settler among the new justices for the Israeli Supreme Court, the prospects for fruitful negotiations in the aftermath of last week's meeting in Amman, Fateh preventing Israeli-Palestinian track II meetings in Jerusalem, and the political potential of journalist Yair Lapid.
A Beginning of Year Letter from Debra DeLee
I write to you this first week of 2012 with a challenge: I challenge you to re-commit yourself to Israeli-Palestinian peace and to resolve not to give in to frustration, pessimism, skepticism, or cynicism. Popular wisdom holds that during an election year, no progress is possible toward peace. I challenge you to stand with Americans for Peace Now, and our colleagues and friends at Peace Now in Israel, and refuse to give in to this logic.
The past year saw many painful developments. But 2011 also gave us a welcome gift: clarity.
Rabbi Dr. Aryeh Cohen is Associate Professor of Rabbinic Literature at the Zeigler School of Rabbinic Studies in Los Angeles. He is a founding member of the Shtibl minyan and the Interfaith Sanctuary at Occupy LA.
Alpher offers a limited year-in-review for 2011, and discusses the recent developments on the Palestinian scene and whether Arab League observers in Syria will make any difference there.
"Now, do not be grieved or angry..." With these words, Joseph forgives his brothers. In this week's portion, we learn a powerful lesson about the power we have to forgive and move forward- seeking peace and mutual survival over seeking revenge and becoming mired in past wrongs.
Inspired by Gershom Gorenberg's "contest" between candidates for worst political PR, we have for you a round-up of our top ten PR failures!
Top 10 PR flubs (in addition to Gershom's)
Anyone who reads the Round-Up knows that Congress gets up to a lot of wacky stuff when it comes to the Middle East. Below is a subjective list of the top ten outstanding examples of this. Enjoy!
Today's top ten!
Have you ever wondered what Americans for Peace Now does? Today's top ten list explains what you support when you donate to APN. Every dollar you donate sustains essential work building peace for Israel and its neighbors.
Alpher discusses whether there is a connection between the the hill youth/price-tag attacks and those of the ultra-orthodox against women, the strategic ramifications for Israel of the US military withdrawal from Iraq, and the strategic consequences for Israel of the leadership transition in North Korea.
The miracle of Chanukah is that we can achieve the seemingly impossible - if we take the first steps.
This week as we celebrate Chanukah, we celebrate a miracle. The miracle we celebrate is not simply the miracle of the oil, but the celebration of achieving the seemingly impossible. We celebrate the ability of humans, doing the right thing, with conviction, to upend the status quo and to serve the interest of their people and the will of God.
There's a reason I have been a devoted supporter of Americans for Peace Now since its inception 30 years ago - and, indeed, of Shalom Achshav, Israel's Peace Now movement, since 1978. In the course of those years, other organizations that care about Israel's peace and safety have come and have gone, some much glitzier than APN, some stodgier. None, in my view, has been clearer in its positions, nor bolder, nor more innovative, nor more sophisticated, nor more productive.
Alpher discusses the new levels of settler youth extremism, confusion surrounding the closing and reopening of the access ramp to the Temple Mount, and the significance of the upcoming Likud leadership primaries.
Is it possible to hear those we hate?
The issue of Israel has a legitimate place in the debate and discourse of a US election. As part of a serious discussion, we expect to see how each candidate would advance Israel-Palestinian peace. In order to promote such a debate, APN has launched its "Elections 2012: Responsibility over Rhetoric" campaign.
Recent attacks on the IDF have led to an abrupt awakening in Israel and abroad. Suddenly people are realizing the danger posed to Israel by a generation of settlers who respect neither Israeli law, nor Israel's army, nor the Israeli state, and who are prepared to use violence against not only Palestinians (which has long been the case) but also against fellow Jews.
Sarit Michaeli of B'Tselem, the Israeli information center on human rights in the Occupied Territories, explains why the death of a Palestinian demonstrator in the West Bank, who was shot by an Israeli soldier at close range with a tear gas canister, is both unusual and alarmingly routine. (photo: Haim Scwarczenberg)
GOP presidential contender Newt Gingrich said in an interview with the Jewish Channel last week that the Palestinians were an "invented" people. Later, at a GOP presidential debate, he refused to retract, and said, "It's fundamentally-- time for somebody to have the guts to stand up and say: Enough lying about the Middle East."
They say:The Palestinians are not a real people. They are just Arabs from other places who settled in the Land of Israel over the years, without any cohesive national identity. There never was a Palestinian state and efforts to create one now are unjustified.
The noted Israeli authors and peace activists have penned a letter about key issues facing Israel, the Israeli Peace Now Movement, and encouraging your support of Americans for Peace Now.
Peace Parsha is a new feature of the Americans for Peace Now website. Every week, we will explore the Torah reading and learn how it is relevant to the ongoing effort to find peace in Israel.
In this week's Torah portion, Vayishlach, the Torah sets up a dramatic moment: Jacob is about to meet with his brother Esau after many years. Fearing that his brother is still angry about his stolen birthright, Jacob sends a lavish gift, consisting of hundreds of heads of cattle and sheep.
Israeli author Amos Oz talks about how American Jews who support the peace movement are loyal and devoted to Israel - "no less, and perhaps more than their militant bretheren." He says "there is more than one way to be pro-israel, there is more than one way to support Israel, there is more than one way to love Israel." In light of recent developments in Egypt, Alpher assesses the wisdom of the Netanyahu government's decision to instruct Israeli diplomats to lobby for maintaining the status of Egypt's military rulers. 
The Washington Post's Sunday edition featured Hagit Ofran, the director of Peace Now's Settlements Watch project, in a story about the attacks on Israel's democracy and civil society. 
In recent days, Peace Now has been facing attacks from many corners. Peace Now's Settlement Watch director received death threats, and a bomb threat was called in at their Jerusalem office. They have also been targeted by an onslaught of anti-democratic bills in the Knesset. But Peace Now refuses to be silenced.
In the face of death threats, Hagit Ofran says "she who believes does not fear."
By Amichai Atali
JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israel has ordered the shutdown of a dovish Israeli-Palestinian radio station, officials and the station's operators said on Sunday.
(NOTE: The station's director Mossi Raz is a former director of Peace Now in Israel)
"...it is shocking to see Israel's democratic government propose measures that could silence its own critics."
Alpher gives an update on the status of anti-democratic Knesset efforts to stifle civil society in Israel, and expounds on the rising influence of the Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox communities in the IDF.(Yedioth Ahronoth, 11/18/11, by Uri Misgav, p. B18 - Translation by Israel News)
Last Tuesday, Hagit Ofran, director of Peace Now's Settlement Watch project, received a surprising visit. Six settlers, members of the small "Eretz Shalom" [Land of Peace] movement, wished to express regret for the events of the day. They were headed by Rabbi Menahem Froman, who despite his severe illness, insisted on holding the visit.
Recently targeted by right-wing Israeli extremists because of her work as the director of Peace Now's Settlements Watch project, Ofran was the keynote speaker at the annual Tel Aviv rally commemorating the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
Yesterday an Israeli Ministerial committee voted to support two new bills that directly target Israeli democracy. See relates articles from the Washington & Jerusalem Posts.
The purpose of these bills is to quash Israeli civil society groups, including those fighting for peace, human rights and civil rights, by fatally curtailing their ability to raise funds.
Ha'aretz: "Peace Now activist Ofran: 'We must not fear. We are here, and we are many'"
Jerusalem Post: "16 years on: Annual Tel Aviv rally remembers Rabin"
Prominent speakers included Hagit Ofran, director of Peace Now's Settlement Watch project: "The graffiti was sprayed in my home, but the taunts are in all of our stairwells. The tag may have marked me, but we all pay the price. We must not fear. We are here, and we are many.
Alpher tackles many regional developments, including new Knesset legislation that targets human rights and peace groups, the departure of Dennis Ross, and Syria's ouster from the Arab League.
by Trudy Rubin, Inquirer Opinion Columnist
JERUSALEM - When Hagit Ofran woke up Tuesday - within days of the 16th anniversary of the murder of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin - she found death threats spray-painted on her door.
(Ofran is pictured on her stairwell amidst the graffiti-ed death threats)
Take action now. This is not about right or left; it is about right or wrong.
Ido (Sany) Arazi is a Tel Aviv graphic artist who designs posters for Israeli Peace organizations. Last week he was working on a poster for Yitzhak Rabin's Memorial Day, which will be marked tomorrow in Israel. Sany prepared a sketch saying "Israel Awaits Murder - 16 years after Rabin's murder and a little before the next murder." He put it aside because he thought it may be too alarmist. 
"Hagit Ofran, Rabin is waiting for you" was one of the spray-painted slogans, the second time in months that Ofran has been targeted, allegedly by right-wing extremists angry over dismantling of illegal West Bank settlements.
By Debra DeLee
Last night, someone pushed the intercom button at the Jerusalem building that houses Peace Now's office. A neighbor was told: "This building will explode in five minutes." The frightened residents and a Peace Now staff member immediately evacuated the building. Outside they found "Price Tag" graffiti. "Price Tag" is what the extreme settlers call their campaign to intimidate and silence Israelis and Palestinians who support a two-state solution to the conflict. 
Vol. 7, Issue 1
Washington, DC - Today members of UNESCO voted to grant the PLO full status in that organization, with 107 nations voting in favor, only 14 nations voting "no," and another 52 abstaining. APN President and CEO Debra DeLee issued the following statement about the vote:
"The decision by UNESCO members to vote overwhelmingly to admit the Palestinians - despite the strong opposition of both the U.S. and Israel and the threat of U.S. sanctions against UNESCO - sends a clear message: the international community is no longer willing to sit on its hands and do the bidding of the United States so long as the "peace process" drags on, bereft of substance and with continued Israeli settlement policies altering the situation on the ground in ways that will soon make this two-state solution impossible.
Q. The Quartet met with Israeli and Palestinian leaders last week and announced that within three months the two sides would submit their views on final status issues involving territory and security. Does this represent any sort of real progress?
Seidemann explores the threat that planned new settlements in East Jerusalem pose for the two-state solution. He is an Israeli attorney and the founder and director of the NGO 'Terrestrial Jerusalem', known as the preeminent expert on geopolitical Jerusalem,
Ynet reports that Netanyahu's government expects to push forward plans to build 1,400 housing units in the area of Givat Hamatos in southern Jerusalem. Peace Now said this will expand the borders of Jerusalem towards Bethlehem. Read more here.
Q. Israel and Hamas have agreed to exchange more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for IDF soldier Gilad Shalit? Why now, after more than five years of negotiating?
A. The primary reasons for the timing appear to have less to do with negotiating concessions--though both Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Hamas appear to have made last-minute concessions--and more to do with the regional strategic issues that set the scene for the deal-clinching concessions. Both Netanyahu and Hamas are interested in lowering the prestige of Fateh and its leader, Mahmoud Abbas, following the seeming success of Abbas' recent initiative at the United Nations, which both oppose. The prisoner exchange does precisely that, particularly in light of the Israel-Hamas agreement not to release Fateh leader Marwan Barghouti.
Washington, DC - Americans for Peace Now (APN) welcomes the news of a deal for the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who has been held captive in the Gaza Strip for more than 1,900 days. 
The Peace Now movement has recently received a certificate of merit from Defense Minister Ehud Barak for its support of reserve soldiers.The extremist settlers call it "Price Tag." We have always called it by
its proper name: Terrorism.There is an old saying that goes "if you want to know how someone really feels, listen to what they say but more important, watch what they do." In recent days the world has heard the Israeli government insist that it is serious about peace and about returning to negotiations without preconditions, but the Israeli government's actions have belied its words, as has so often been the case in the past.The High Holidays are here. It is a season in which many turn toward the hope that God will bless us with health, prosperity and peace. Peace, however, is not simply a gift; we are instructed to do our part and proactively pursue it.
"Now the Torah did not insist that we actually go in pursuit of [most other] commandments, but said: if a bird's nest happens to be before you...when you gather the grapes of your vineyard....In all these cases, if they come your way you are commanded to perform the duties connected with them, but you need not go in pursuit of them. In the case of peace, however, seek peace wherever you happen to be, and pursue it if it is elsewhere." Bamidbar Rabbah 19-27 (emphasis added).
As the entire world now knows, yesterday an Israeli planning committee approved Plan 13261, Mordot Gilo - South (aka "Gilo Slopes") - a plan for large-scale settlement construction in East Jerusalem, adjacent to the settlement of Gilo (map, courtesy of Daniel Seidemann). 
Watch highlights of speakers from the Thursday, September 22 rally expressing support of Israeli and international recognition of the Palestinian state, held opposite the building where the independence of Israel was proclaimed in 1948.
Among participants and speakers at the events were Yael Dayan (pictured), Alon Li'el, Amos Oz, Yoran Kanyuk, David Tartakover, Yehuda Bauer, Galia Golan and others.
Go HERE to watch the Israel Social TV video.
Are you discouraged about how far away Mideast peace seems to be?
Washington, DC - Americans for Peace Now (APN) reacted with disappointment to President Obama's speech today at the United Nations General Assembly. APN President and CEO Debra DeLee commented:
Read a story of reconciliation from David Harris Gershon, a writer whose recent work has appeared in The Jerusalem Post, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Colorado Review and elsewhere. His memoir, Shrapnel, is currently making the rounds. He received his MFA from the University of North Carolina, Wilmington.
Americans for Peace Now is proud that Mr. Gershon is an APN "Person for Peace", where you can follow his tweets and blog posts.
What kind of UN recognition are the Palestinians seeking? What are they expecting to achieve? Are they aware of the possible repercussion? To answer these questions, APN hosted a briefing call with Ambassador Riyad Mansour, the Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations. Ambassador Mansour took questions from APN Board members and major supporters. To listen to a recording of the call, click here. 
APN provides links to items related to the Palestinians' statehood efforts at the United Nations.
Israel's Peace Now movement today again became the target of the Israel's extreme right intimidation campaign.
Early this morning, the director of Peace Now's Settlements Watch project was awakened by neighbors who told her that the door to her apartment, as well as the apartment building's walkway, have been vandalized. Black graffiti sprayed on the door and the walkway read: "Revenge," "Death," "Peace Now - the End is Near," and "Price Tag."
Washington, D.C. - Americans for Peace Now (APN) today announced a new round of updates for its groundbreaking Facts on the Ground map app.
JURIST Guest Columnist Shlomy Zachary of the Michael Sfard Law Offices in Israel says that the recent Israeli Supreme Court ruling ordering the demolition of the Migron outpost in the West Bank was an obvious one under Israeli and international law and was necessary to uphold the rule of law...
By Tovah Lazaroff Alpher answers questions about US efforts to renew Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and the impact of Turkey's downgrade of relations with Israel.APN is excited to introduce its new service, News Nosh, a daily news summary brought to you directly from Israel. Produced by Jerusalem-based journalist Orly Halpern, News Nosh will be emailed to you every morning, so you can enjoy your a.m. coffee while perusing the major headlines and a summary of Israel's daily news. 
"This is a person who seems to support Israel, but he is a fanatic..." Etai Mizrav of Peace Now said.
Yariv Oppenheimer, Peace Now Secretary General: "We came to protest against this show of Glenn Beck, I think he tried to use the tension in this city for his career...We need friends who come from abroad to support the idea of two states, of sharing Jerusalem a capital for two states, for the Palestinians and the Israelis, and not people who come here just to provoke."
When Glenn Beck and his followers come to Jerusalem's Old City on Wednesday for their provocative "Restore Courage" rally they will get an earful from Peace Now activists. They will demand that Beck and his supporters stay away from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and from one of the most sensitive sites on earth. Peace Now supporters will meet on Wednesday at the Dung Gate in the Old City to tell him that he is no friend of Israel and is doing it a disservice by fanning the religious flames of Israel's conflict with the Palestinians.
Barbara Green is an activist and volunteer with Americans for Peace Now out of the national office in Washington, D.C. Earlier in 2011, she coordinated APN's Study Tour to Israel.
Washington, DC - Americans for Peace Now today joined Peace Now in criticizing the Netanyahu government for its cynical effort to use the ongoing protests in Israel as cover for expanding settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. APN called on the Obama administration to strongly challenge this effort, recognizing it for what it is: further evidence that while Netanyahu talks about wanting peace and avoiding a confrontation at the UN next month, the actions of his government demonstrate the opposite.
"This is a protest against what Israel has become, in the name of what it once was. It is an effort by the youngest Israelis to recapture an older, more egalitarian, more idealistic, country that their parents lost."
Michael Walzer is a contributing editor for The New Republic, professor emeritus of social science at the Institute for Advanced Study, and a board member of Americans for Peace Now.
"...supporters of Peace Now understand all too well that resources have been invested in the settlement enterprise at the expense of providing housing in Israel proper. We understand that maintaining the settlement enterprise costs Israel civilians an estimated NIS 8 billion annually."
With all the protests about housing and other social justice issues, Prime Minister Netanyahu is drawn suffering from a Migraine, which in Hebrew sounds very much like the name of the illegal Israeli West Bank outpost that the court has ordered to be removed!
In response to a petition filed by the Peace Now movement, Israel's Supreme Court issued an unprecedented ruling ordering the state to dismantle the largest illegal settlement outpost in the West Bank by April 2012.
See links to articles in the Israeli, U.S., and International press.
Thousands of Israelis are in the streets protesting high housing costs. It is an amazing, indeed, stunning development. Israelis from all walks of life are fed up with Israel's wealth gap as it continues to widen.
Earlier this month, APN's Board of Directors adopted principles to guide our approach on the issue of the Palestinians and efforts for international and UN recognition. These principles underlie my recent op-ed on the topic published on ForeignPolicy.com, and will be the basis of forthcoming APN statements and commentary on the topic.
Washington, DC - Today the Board of Directors of Americans for Peace Now met in a special session to discuss Israel's new anti-boycott law. In the session the board unanimously adopted the following position: APN's Board wholeheartedly endorses Peace Now's campaign to challenge the new law and joins in their call for a boycott of products made in settlements.
APN is deeply concerned by the escalation in attacks on Israel's democracy coming from the Israeli Knesset (the parliament). 
APN has unveiled a new booklet that provides a desperately-needed, honest assessment of the "defensibility" of borders based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed upon land swaps.
View it below.
On May 31, 2010, Israel confronted an international flotilla seeking to challenge its blockade of Gaza, with tragic results. At that time American for Peace Now (APN) called on Israel to investigate the operation that led to these results and to reassess its Gaza policy. APN noted that the difficult situation presented to Israel by the flotilla underscored the extent to which the continued policy of blockading Gaza was untenable and increasingly indefensible.
Now Israel is facing another flotilla, and it appears that another potential debacle is in the making.
(My new piece posted on the Huffington Post)
Shock jock Glenn Beck is planning to hold a rally in Jerusalem in August. 
The Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem are getting out of control and endanger the two state solution.
See Peace Now's simplified primer on the status of Jerusalem.
Actor and activist Leonard Nimoy's letter in support of a two-state solution and Americans for Peace Now has made news around the globe (and probably inter-galactically given the postings on "trekmovie.com" and "TrekToday").
See headlines and links to all the articles.
I reach out to you as someone who is troubled to see the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians continue apparently without an end in sight.
In fact, there is an end in sight. It's known as the two-state solution... The problem is how to reach that end point. It's something we should be concerned about--not only as world citizens, but as Americans.
Around 5,000 people participated in a march that was organized under the title 'Netanyahu said no - We say yes to a Palestinian state'.APN yesterday hosted award winning novelist James Carroll for a conversation about Jerusalem on the occasion of "Jerusalem Day," a national Israeli holiday marking the so-called "reunification of Jerusalem."
Today, the Israeli Peace Now movement organized a tour of Jerusalem for Israeli and Palestinian leaders, including members of parliament.
Alpher answers questions about the defensibility of Israel's borders, and the security necessity of a long-term Israeli military presence along the Jordan River. 
Washington, DC - Americans for Peace Now (APN) today expressed deep disappointment with Prime Minister Netanyahu's speech to Congress. APN's President and CEO Debra DeLee said:"Prime Minister Netanyahu was today granted a podium that few world leaders receive. He had the chance to demonstrate to the world that, contrary to many people's expectations, he grasps the urgency of the moment. Unfortunately for Israel, he did not rise to the occasion.
June 1st is celebrated in Israel as Jerusalem Day. This is a good opportunity for reflection on what this city means to Israelis and to Palestinians, about the role that it plays in the conflict between the two peoples, and about the relationship between the celestial and the terrestrial Jerusalem.
Today, Tuesday, May 24, AIPAC supporters will be on the Hill lobbying Congress to support resolutions - H. Res. 268 and S. Res. 185 - taking the Palestinians to task for seeking UN recognition and for trying to put together a new government that can govern both Gaza and the West Bank. Americans for Peace Now applauds President Obama's courageous speech at AIPAC's policy conference in Washington today.
Responding to President Obama's Middle East speech, APN President and CEO Debra DeLee said:
"Today, President Obama signaled to the world that he is still serious about Israeli-Palestinian peace and that he is a true friend of Israel. We welcome his clear statement that the U.S. position is that a permanent status peace agreement will be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed on land swaps, and that the outcome must be secure and recognized borders, with a sovereign, contiguous Palestinian state and robust security arrangements for Israel. We also welcome his statement that such an agreement must find a way to resolve the issues of Jerusalem and refugees that is just and fair and that respects the rights and aspirations of both Israelis and Palestinians.
Responding to news that an Israeli Ministry of Interior committee - acting with the authorization of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - will today consider approving the construction of more than 1500 new settlement units in East Jerusalem, APN President and CEO Debra DeLee issued the following statement:
"By proceeding with settlement approvals in East Jerusalem today - precisely when Prime Minister Netanyahu is headed to Washington to meet with President Obama and address Congress, and when President Obama is about to make a major Middle East speech - Netanyahu is sending an unmistakable message: he values settlements more than peace.
This week President Obama will talk a lot about the Middle East. Not only will he deliver a major foreign policy address aimed at the Arab and Muslim worlds, but he will also offer remarks after meetings with King Abdullah of Jordan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and make a speech at AIPAC.
The events that took place in connection with yesterday's "Nakba Day" demonstrations - in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and on Israel's borders with Syria and Lebanon - should be a wake-up call to all those who foolishly believe that Israel can indefinitely continue the occupation. They should be a wake-up call to those who believe that Israel can continue to live as a "villa in the jungle" - an expression first coined by Defense Minister Ehud Barak - immune to the regional forces that sparked and are fueling the Arab Spring.
Washington, DC - Reacting to the news of Senator George Mitchell's resignation from his position as President Obama's special Middle East Envoy, Americans for Peace Now's President and CEO, Debra DeLee, today issued the following statement:
Amidst reports that President Obama will in the coming days deliver a major Middle East foreign policy speech, APN President Debra DeLee today issued the following statement:
On Israel's Independence Day, APN's Ori Nir looks ahead to real independence for Israel, noting that "Israel is not truly independent as long as it denies the Palestinians their independence."
Israel's Independence Day, May 10th, is a good time to revel in what such a small country has achieved in such a short time and under such trying circumstances. It's also a time to resolve to do more.
On the eve of Israeli's 63rd Independence Day, Alpher commented on Israel's greatest strategic security concern and the challenges posed to neighboring Jordan by the "Arab Spring."
A Palestinian reconciliation agreement was signed by Fatah and Hamas in Cairo.Alpher answers questions about the Fatah-Hamas unity agreement announced last week and its potential impact on the peace process.
Washington, DC -- APN today welcomed news of a Fatah-Hamas deal. To the degree that the agreement provides for elections and a joint government, this is an opportunity that the Obama administration should not squander. Commenting on today's development, APN President and CEO Debra DeLee stated:"Today's announcement of a Fatah-Hamas deal to jointly form a government and to hold new elections is good news, and we hope that the agreement is implemented. While we still don't know all the details of the agreement, we know that a Palestinian government representing all Palestinians, with security and governance capacity in both the West Bank and Gaza, is vital to the achievement of a peace agreement.
By Sid Topol
Today, a group of leading Israel cultural figures, among them winners of the prestigious Israel Prize, gathered in Tel Aviv to announce their welcome of an independent Palestinian state next to Israel, with its borders based on the 1967 borders.
The urgency of the Israeli-Palestinian situation today cannot be
overstated. Current peace efforts have lost all credibility.
Settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem continues,
undermining the viability of the two-state solution. Moderate
Palestinian leaders, unable to deliver progress to their people through
negotiations, are under increasing pressure to pursue alternative
strategies. Violence and tensions on the ground are rising. 
And you thought babies could only talk about financial investments? 
Americans for Peace Now strongly condemns the attack by terrorists on a school bus in southern Israel today.
"the IPI serves as a timely reminder to the Obama administration (which has welcomed the initiative) that there is in Israel an influential and credible peace lobby..."
Read all of Alpher's comments on the newly released Israeli Peace Initiatiative (IPI) endorsed by an impressive group of Israeli security experts (not officially connected to the current Israeli government).
Washington, D.C. -- APN today welcomed news of the imminent release of the Israeli Peace Initiative (IPI), reportedly endorsed by a number of leading Israeli political, intelligence, and security figures. 
Peace Now lays out the basics in this short animated video with English subtitles.
WATCH...
APN offers the song "Make Those Waters Part" by Doug Mishkin for you to add to your Passover Seder. The song appears on his album Woody's Children, as well as on Celebrate Passover and on Sing Out For Justice (produced by the Union for Reform Judaism). Mishkin is a lawyer, singer-songwriter, and member of Temple Micah in Washington, D.C.
The Netanyahu government has marked the occasion of President Shimon Peres's visit to Washington with some very unwelcome "gifts" to the Obama Administration: on Sunday, the government of Israel let the Jerusalem Municipal Planning Committee approve a plan for massive settlement expansion in the southern part of East Jerusalem 
Over 700 people attended a first-of-its-kind peace camp conference last Friday, which Israel's Peace Now movement hosted and organized.Is the growing unrest in Syria more significant for Israel than similar developments elsewhere in the Arab world?
Why is the September 2011 deadline for declaring a Palestinian state seemingly so "sacred" to the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank?
Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa is generally understood to be the leading candidate to be elected the next president of Egypt. How significant is this for Israel?
...there is nothing common-sense about Palin's comments during her recent visit to Israel, where she reportedly
criticized President Obama for objecting to Israeli settlement expansion, suggesting that settlement construction is simply a local Israeli "zoning issue."
Americans for Peace Now strongly condemns the bombing in Jerusalem today. APN extends its condolences to the family of the woman killed in the horrendous attack and wishes fast recovery to those injured. What are the ramifications...of the past week's turn of events in the Arab revolutionary wave, with Saudi troops entering Bahrain and the western powers attacking Libya on the basis of a UN mandate for international intervention? The "solution" for Libya seems radically different. Why?
Connection between new wave of Palestinian unity efforts and escalated mortar attacks from Gaza?
"when it comes to Israel, there are those in our US Jewish community who not only choose to live in a delusional virtual reality, but insist on dragging others into their la-la land. It is bad for Israel and bad for America."
Read the entire opinion piece by Ori Nir, APN Spokesman:
Yossi Alpher writes about the effect the murders at the Itamar settlement will have on the peace process, and on the new peace initiative Prime Minister Netanyahu claimed to be preparing prior to the attack. 
Washington, D.C -- Americans for Peace Now today strongly denounces the murder of an Israeli couple and their three children at the settlement of Itamar in the West Bank on Saturday. APN extends its condolences to the families of those murdered in the attack. 
Today the Israeli press was full of headlines reporting that the government of Israel has declared that it will remove all West Bank outposts on private Palestinian land by the end of the year. This sounds like great news, until you read a bit further, and notice that the second part of this new policy is that the government plans to legalize ALL other outposts in the West Bank. Peace Now's Hagit Ofran and I prepared the following analysis of the new policy:
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is reportedly
seeking an invitation to speak to both houses of Congress in the coming
weeks to unveil a new political plan. Netanyahu was initially planning
to present the plan at AIPAC's annual conference on May 22, but he is
now reportedly planning to come to Washington earlier.
Alpher discusses the reported new Israeli peace initiative from Netanyahu, and what is behind it. Also, what explains the small amount of 'revolutionary actions' on the Palestinian and Syrian street.
Netanyahu's government responds to petition submitted by Peace Now regarding six contentious outposts; homes built on non-private still subject to debate.
Roger COHEN: "No occupation in the West Bank, did I hear you right?"
By Hagit Ofran and Lara Friedman 
Will UN sanctions bring down the Gaddafi regime in Libya?
A. While the sanctions approved last week by the Security Council are unprecedented in scope and real-time urgency, they are unlikely to have any short-term effect on the Libyan leader, his family and supporters.
APN delivered this briefing book to every Congressional office during the week of February 25th.
Court ruled in the past that the wishes of the owners should be taken into account in deciding the use of the properties, but rejected compensating owners of property from before establishment of Israel.
By Chaim Levinson
Egypt: the aftermath
Alpher discusses the possibilities, role of intelligence, declaration of new elections in the West Bank, and whether there is a broader, "civilizational" meaning to what has happened in Tunisia and Egypt.
APN's Israel study tour group concluded its week-long visit to Israel Friday after an exciting meeting with Peace Now's young activists. The activists, ranging in age between 16 and 36, shared with us their experiences as patriotic Israeli Zionists who fight for peace as the only way to secure Israel's Jewish and democratic future.
On our first two days in Israel and West Bank, APN's study tour group saw East Jerusalem and Hebron, the two holiest towns to Judaism and, not coincidentally, the two predominantly Palestinian urban areas in which Israelis choose to settle.
APN's Ori Nir writes from Jerusalem as he prepares for APN's Israel Study Tour:
WASHINGTON (JTA) -- There is the old joke that "denial is not just a river in Egypt." And indeed it is true.
"These documents -- if authentic -- highlight a reality that peace process cynics have long sought to deny: Israel has a far more real "partner" than it has ever been willing to admit."
A key resolution on Israel and the peace process is now before the UN Security Council. The resolution embraces negotiations, endorses the two-state solution, and condemns Israeli settlement activity.
On behalf of Americans for Peace Now, President & CEO Debra DeLee sent a letter of condolences to Israel's President Shimon Peres, who lost his wife of 65 years, Sonia.
Washington, DC -- Americans for Peace Now (APN) today issued the following statement regarding the pending resolution in the United Nations Security Council supporting the peace process and the two-state solution, and condemning Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem: 
Alpher responds to questions about today's news that Defense Minister Ehud Barak and four Labor colleagues are leaving the Labor party, while the remaining eight Labor MKs are apparently leaving Netanyahu's coalition.He also reflects upon last week's 'people's revolution' in Tunisia and issues in the region.
Responding to recent developments in Israel, including
comments by Knesset Member Michael Ben-Ari, who was caught on tape
inciting against Peace Now and other progressive Israeli organizations;
responding to news that the Israel Airports Authority was blocking Peace
Now's website at Ben Gurion Airport; and responding to the decision of
the Knesset to launch an investigation into funding of "left-wing"
groups in Israel, APN President and CEO Debra DeLee released the
following statement: 
The quote of the day goes to Israel's Knesset Member Benny Begin, a
Likud hawk but a liberal democrat, who is a minister without portfolio
in Binyamin Netanyahu's cabinet. In an interview with Israel Radio, Begin said:
"It is dark here." He was referring to yesterday's Knesset vote (not a
final vote, thankfully) to investigate the funding sources of human
rights organizations. The Knesset bill, by the way, for the first time
explicitly singles out "left wing" organizations.
Yariv Oppenheimer -- Peace Now's director -- today published the following op-ed in the popular Israeli daily newspaper Ma'ariv.
Our movement scored a victory today. The front page of today's New York Times features an article which draws strongly on Peace Now's work and research. The headline says it all: "West Bank Settlement Boom Sows New Obstacles to Peace."
Israel's Peace Now movement is putting the squeeze on the Labor Party over its continued support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. By being part of a government that only pretends to pursue peace with the Palestinians, the Labor Party legitimizes Netanyahu's intransigent policies.
APN welcomed the Obama administration's commitment - as expressed December 10th by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton - to intensify its efforts to achieve Israeli-Palestinian peace. APN warned, however, that Secretary Clinton's words will be meaningless if not backed up by resolute actions that achieve results.The news of the failure of the Obama administration's latest peace effort raises serious concerns about the future of President Obama's Israeli-Palestinian peace policy. As the Obama Administration readies to announce what will come next, it must recognize that after two years in office, good intentions are not enough: it will be judged now on actions and results, not on words.
Israel was struck by disaster last week: A forest fire blazed out of control outside of Haifa. More than 40 were killed. Israel's firefighters didn't have the manpower or the equipment to put out the blaze.
When Hamas terrorists killed four Israelis in the West Bank in August, the condemnations came from across the Israeli political spectrum. That the dead--one of whom was pregnant--lived in a settlement made the act no less reprehensible, even to those of us who oppose the settlements.
By Lara Friedman 
A new report by the Israeli Peace Now movement discloses that enough new housing starts have taken place in settlements over the last six months to make up for the ten months of the moratorium on new settlements construction.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu last week seems to have ended with an offer: A package of US rewards in exchange for a 90-day settlement construction freeze. The proposal, reportedly, also addresses the contours of direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations over the next three months, and beyond.President Barack Obama's resolve to renew Israeli-Palestinian peace talks is being tested. I need your help to show the president that Americans want him to act to put the peace process back on track.
APN's innovative efforts to reach new audiences through high-tech tools and through social media just got the attention of the New York Jewish Week. Here's what James Besser wrote:Social media is the new currency of political activism. And which Jewish group has the most in the bank?
The crisis in the media industry has been most acutely felt in the
decline of international coverage. Major newspapers and TV networks have
closed foreign bureaus, major news media are relying solely on wire
reports for international coverage, and airtime devoted to global
affairs has declined significantly. Nine years after the 9/11 attacks,
with two wars that the US is fighting overseas, America's news
organizations have diminished rather than enhanced their international
reporting infrastructure. 
The Jerusalem Settlement Pisgat Zeev (in blue) already walls in Palestinian Beit Hanina and Shuafat Refugee Camp (in gold).
Masses gather in Tel Aviv to demonstrate against amendment to Citizenship Act.Peace Now Secretary General Yariv Oppenheimer was among those leading the procession, and he told YNET: "We are here to protest with the entire street against the dangerous policy of the government, which Labor ministers also support."
Go HERE for the entire article
High Court of Justice judges including Supreme Court President Dorit Beinish, Justice Uzi Fogelman and Justice Neal Hendel leveled criticism at government policy ignoring illegal construction in outposts which have been served with warrants.
--------------
Also included are excerpts from and links to the Ha'aretz articles:
"Netanyahu still wary of razing six West Bank outposts slated for demolition in 2004" & "Border Control / Minister of contempt" by Akiva Eldar
release. Media coverage included major news outlets like CNN, U.S. and international newspapers/blogs, technology, business, and activism magazines/blogs/websites, Jewish community newspapers and national blogs, and on Israel Radio and NPR.
Last night the Israeli government failed to extend its ban on new settlement construction in the West Bank. 
(Special to APN from Daniel Seidemann in Jerusalem and Lara Friedman)
Washington, DC - Americans for Peace Now (APN) is today proud to release a revolutionary interactive mapping tool, which will for the first time give anyone, anywhere, a comprehensive real-time view of what is happening on the ground in the West Bank.
APN is pleased to be holding a brunch in honor of Martin Bresler on Sunday, October 3, 2010 at 11:00 am at the Egremont Country Club in Great Barrington, MA.
View APN's New Year's card to see what it offers with its tea...
"The unfortunate decision of the theater managers to export the finest plays being staged in Tel Aviv, Haifa and Beer Sheva to none other than the largest settlement built by Israel--caused a courageous group of artists and actors to stand up for their principles and refuse to perform in the territories."Following the op ed is:
Ha'aretz: "Netanyahu: State should not fund any theater that boycotts Ariel"
Ma'ariv: "The Lecturers' Boycott"
Walla: "Oz, Yehoshua and Grossman Support Theater Workers' Protest"
By BEN HARTMAN
Protesters argue renewed building would ruin talks.
Dozens of activists attended a rally organized by Peace Now near the Talmon settlement, between Modi'in Illit and Ramallah, on Thursday, to demonstrate their support for an extension of the settlement freeze that is set to expire on September 26.
Following the JPost article is: Ynet News: "Leftists protest against resumption of West Bank building"
While most experts and pundits advise an incremental approach to an separate Israeli-Palestinian peace, Marwan Muasher, Jordan's former foreign minister and ambassador to Washington and Israel supports a much more ambitious regional approach, which harnesses the Arab League's Peace Initiative to the Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts. 
Press Release
For Immediate Release
August 20 , 2010
Washington, DC - While welcoming the announcement of direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, Americans for Peace Now calls on the parties to negotiate in earnest. APN also urges President Obama to be prepared to press both parties to engage in the talks to see them succeed.
APN President and CEO Debra DeLee commented:
(Pictured: Peace Now activist placing an announcement during the current campaign)
Israeli soldiers last week again had to chase lawless settlers on the hills of the West Bank.This time, it was settlers from Yitzhar and Bracha, near Nablus, who vandalized Palestinian property, blocked roads, torched fields, sabotaged Israel Defense Forces vehicles, punched, kicked Israeli police officers, cursed and harassed them and resisted arrest...
Peace Now claims settlers violated freeze in West Bank. 
APN's Video Campaign received top billing on Ha'aretz online:
Washington, DC - Americans for Peace Now (APN) today called on the Obama Administration to act quickly and resolutely to prevent an escalation of tensions and military action on the Israel-Lebanon border and between Israel and Gaza.
By Lara Friedman 
See more pictures from the Americans for Peace Now - American Task Force on Palestine event at APN's Facebook Photo Album.
to follow us.
Lyndsi Sherman, a junior at San Diego State University, participated in APN's joint internship program with the American Task Force on Palestine this summer. She prepared this reflection on what she learned through her experience here.
"The Elkin Bills" by Yariv Oppenheimer
I just came back from an inspiring event on Capitol Hill, in which young
Israeli and Palestinian peace activists told their stories and urged
Americans to get involved to make Middle East peace a reality. 
The Israeli government opened a criminal investigation
against a group of settlers who expanded their settlement in violation
of Israeli law. 
For years settlers have openly fund-raised in the United States - including in synagogues, on booze cruises, in churches and at gala dinners.
Over time, millions of dollars have flowed, tax-exempt, to settlers and
settlement-related causes, including to support settler extremists in Hebron and East Jerusalem, (cont.)
Washington, DC -- Americans for Peace Now today delivered a petition signed by 15,962 people to President Barack Obama, urging him to press for an extension of the moratorium on construction in West Bank settlements.
SIGN APN's PETITION
On June 30, 2010, APN's board adopted the following policy language regarding Turkey:
Today APN sent the following letter to President Obama, urging him to engage, urgently, on Jerusalem.
Americans for Peace Now welcomes the Israeli Cabinet's
decision to ease the siege on the Gaza Strip as a positive step. What
is now needed is devising a comprehensive regime that would provide
security and international support for Israel, while allowing Gaza's
civilian population greater normalcy. 
The LA Jewish Federation invited APN's David Pine to speak as part of a pro-Israel rally on Sunday, June 6th.
They did so because there are so many of us who know that Israel needs peace to survive.
See videos and the transcript of the speech.
More than 10,000 Israelis turned out on Saturday night at a rally in Tel Aviv to call upon the Israeli government to change direction.
APN provides you with links to news and information about this tragic episode and its aftermath. Recent Items:APN welcomes reports that Netanyahu is reconsidering Gaza siege
Washington, DC; Americans for Peace Now (APN) is deeply dismayed at the tragic results of Israel's interception of the international Gaza aid flotilla today and calls on Israel to thoroughly investigate the operation and to reassess its policy toward the Gaza Strip.
Arye ("Lova") Eliav, an icon of the Israeli peace movement, died
yesterday in Tel Aviv at 88. He was one of Israel's most admired leaders, a
visionary, a man of principles, who combined his passion for peace with
a passion for volunteerism and education.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu complained Monday that a Palestinian boycott of goods produced in West Bank settlements shows a lack of interest in peace.
Click here to ask your senators to stand for peace and join this initiative.
"Please stand for Israel. Stand for American interests. End your involvement with this event."
This was the core message of the May 17th letter APN sent to Michael Steele, Chairman of the Republican National Committee, upon announcement of his speaking at the pro-settlement "Israel Day" Concert sponsored by Ateret Cohenim and the Hebron Fund, among others.
Thousands of activists came out Saturday night to a Peace Now demonstration in Jerusalem. Jerusalem Post: "Thousands join left-wing J'lem rally"
A prominent group of American Jewish leaders, encouraged by a European Jewish effort, have produced a statement and you are invited and encouraged to sign on.
Once a week, Hagit Ofran − granddaughter of the late Prof. Yeshayahu Leibowitz − tours the West Bank as head of Peace Now's Settlement Watch project. Israel's policy in the territories, she says, is putting us all at risk.Jerusalem expert Danny Seidemann, on a visit to Washington, says it is not difficult to take measures to minimize eruptions of violence in East Jerusalem, which might jeopardize the newly resumed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
Listen here
Americans for Peace Now placed a large ad in a special supplement that the Israeli daily Haaretz published this week to mark the 150th birthday of Theodore Herzl, the visionary Zionist who kicked off the process that lead to the birth of the state of Israel.
Washington, DC -- APN welcomes the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, and the involvement of Arab governments in the process that led to it.
Reports from Israel, the Arab media and from Washington suggest that Israeli-Palestinian negotiations may in fact soon resume.
Sure, these will not be direct negotiations - not yet - but after more than a year of a diplomatic standstill, indirect talks are better than no talks.
An effort is underway by some in the American Jewish community to pressure President Barack Obama to be less forceful in his efforts to promote peace for Israel.
Elie Wiesel published a full page ad in the Washington Post.
World Jewish Congress President Ron Lauder published an open letter to Obama.
Israel's Remembrance Day started yesterday night. It is a national holiday in which Israelis remember their fallen soldiers and those killed by terrorists. Tonight, Israelis will switch gears to celebrate their Independence Day.
Our colleagues in the Israeli Peace Now movement produced Israeli flags with the word "peace" written on them and offered them to the Israeli public in advance of Israel's Independence Day. 
The Newsletter includes a photo gallery of APN and Peace Now activities, events and guest speakers, "News Shorts" and a special interview.
Letters to the editor spurred on by the APN Action Alert "AIPAC doesn't speak for me: Obama's leadership on Israel deserves support" have appeared in newspapers from coast to coast! Thanks to all of you who sent in letters and for making a difference.
Today's Middle East story comes by way of Bialystock. That's Max Bialystock, the failed theater impresario of Mel Brooks' comic masterpiece The Producers.
Passover is a holiday commemorating freedom and renewal. This year APN is proud to offer to resources for you. 
For months APN has been working to get President Barack Obama to step up his efforts in support of peace for Israel. We've called on him to be prepared to confront Israel, the Palestinians, or the Arab states when they fail to play ball.
Last week the Obama administration did just that.
A leadership delegation of Americans for Peace Now, on a fact-finding trip to Israel and the West Bank, met today in Ramallah with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, and in Jerusalem with Israel's Opposition
Chair MK Tzipi Livni.
On Monday -- during the vice president's visit to Israel -- American peace envoy George Mitchell announced that Israelis and Palestinians will soon resume peace talks.Washington, DC -- APN welcomes today's announcement that Special Envoy George Mitchell will be brokering indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. APN welcomes the involvement of Arab governments in the process that lead to today's announcement. 
I'm proud to be one of the thousands of Israelis and Palestinians who joined the demonstration on Saturday night in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. The crowd, mobilized by a broad range of groups (including the Israeli Peace Now movement), is united in our opposition to settler groups who are evicting Palestinian families and moving into their homes there.
Residents of east Jerusalem neighborhood celebrate holiday with songs of praise for Cave of Patriarchs massacre. Left-wing activists plan protest
Alpher answers questions about Palestinian rioting in Hebron and the Syrian "resistance" summit. 
Israel is going through a dark time, marked by increased settler violence, intensified incitement against pro-peace leaders and causes in Israel, and vicious demonization of pro-peace, pro-democracy forces. Enough is enough. Stand for peace. Condemn the use of violence by settlers.
Over a thousand Peace Now activists and supporters gathered in Tel Aviv Saturday for a satirical demonstration to assert the notion that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Ehud Barak's peace rhetoric is not backed up by actions.
In the masquerade tradition of the Jewish holiday of Purim, which is celebrated this week, demonstrators were handed masks of Netanyahu and Barak, and placards referring to the Netanyahu government's make-believe peace overtures.
Alpher answers questions about the assassination of Hamas militant Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.
On Saturday night hundreds of Peace Now activists will converge in Tel Aviv to make an important statement: Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak may talk a lot about peace, but -- when it comes to actions -- they are implementing an anti-peace agenda.CONTACT: Ori Nir - (202) 408-9898; onir@peacenow.org
Washington, DC -Americans for Peace Now today welcomed President Obama's appointment of Robert Stephen Ford as ambassador to Syria and urged the Senate to promptly approve the appointment.
