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.
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.
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.
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
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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.
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.
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.
