APN hosted a press briefing in Washington, D.C. with Jerusalem expert Daniel Seidemann. Danny, who co-directs the Israeli nonprofit Terrestrial Jerusalem, demonstrated how current Israeli government planning for settlement construction in East Jerusalem would make a two-state solution virtually impossible by the end of 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.
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for the period of
January 21-31, 2012
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1. Bills, Resolutions
& Letters
2. Odds & Ends
Apologies
for the belated and abbreviated Round-Up this week (and the
absent Round-Up
this coming Friday) -- both are due mainly to the visit to the
U.S. of Jerusalem
expert Danny Seidemann, who is in the U.S. discussing current
developments/trends in East Jerusalem settlement construction,
and the imminent
threat they pose to the viability of the two-state solution. His visit coincides with
the publication of a
new map presentation laying out these current
developments/trends and
projecting (conservatively) what the map of Jerusalem will
look like at the end
of 2013, assuming these trends continue unchecked. That presentation can be
viewed/downloaded here.
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.
Under new proposal from Likud MK Danny Danon, illegal outpost of Migron will be relocated while current structures remain intact to serve as farmhouses • Compromise complies with High Court ruling to evacuate outpost, but it may not be legal.
Settler leaders on Monday agreed to a compromise regarding the evacuation of the illegal outpost of Migron. The High Court of Justice ruled over the summer that the outpost, home to some 50 families, was built on privately owned Palestinian land and ordered its evacuation by the end of March.
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.
Washington, DC - Americans for Peace now (APN) welcomes the resignation of Andrew Adler, the owner and managing editor of the Atlanta Jewish Times. Adler resigned under pressure, following a column he wrote, suggesting an Israeli assassination of President Obama.
Netanyahu urges residents of illegal West Bank outpost to accept compromise offer and move to new neighborhood on State-owned land. Settlers: He's learned nothing from Gaza pullout
(excerpt)
Peace Now Director Yariv Oppenheimer called Netanyahu's offer a "cynical spin that is aimed at thwarting the implementation of the court's decision and delaying the outpost's evacuation by several years.
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:
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for the week ending
January 20, 2012
=======================
1. Bills, Resolutions
& Letters
2. Odds & Ends
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.
If there's anything that can produce more anxiety than watching the Republicans pick a presidential candidate, it's watching the process from Israel.
Yes, I know that the Republican candidates--well, except for Ron Paul--all love Israel. Newt Gingrich is still in the race because of the cash his super PAC got from casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, whose other political investments include financing an Israeli newspaper that exists to promote Benjamin Netanyahu. Rick Santorum has just been endorsed by the high council of theocons, who are sure they understand Israel's importance better than the Jews do.
read the article
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.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."
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.
"Elkin's cooperation with right-wing extremists is even more dangerous than MKs aboard the [Gaza-bound] Marmara flotilla [in 2010]," (Peace Now Secretary General Yariv) Oppenheimer said.
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By LAHAV HARKOV AND MELANIE LIDMAN
01/09/2012 02:52
Rightist MKs condemn indictments against activists.
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.
Ha'aretz: "Israel bill to force Palestinians to prove ownership over land used for West Bank outposts"
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.
Washington, DC -- Americans for Peace Now (APN) today welcomed the Israeli-Palestinian meeting in Amman, hosted by Jordan's King Abdullah. APN called on both sides to not let this meeting be an isolated event and to re-launch serious negotiations toward a two-state solution. APN also urged the Obama administration to re-claim its role as a chief broker and as a sponsor of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
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.
