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Holiday Letter from Leonard Fein

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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.


Yes, there have been ebbs and flows over the years. In its first years, Shalom Achshav was the acknowledged center of a peace movement that seemed destined to prevail. I will always remember what it felt like, back in 1981, to be asked to speak at a Tel Aviv rally sponsored by Shalom Achshav, a rally attended by some 40,000 people - and what it felt like, at rally's end, to join them in singing Hatikvah. (And what it felt like to know that many of the people with whom I shared the stage that night would on the morrow be joining their reserve units, off to defend the State, while I'd be flying back to Boston, where I live. Talk about a lesson in humility.)

The peace movement has not prevailed - but Shalom Achshav and APN do not qualify for "relic" status. In Israel, the movement continues to build its youth cohort and to sponsor its famed Settlement Watch project, which produces impeccable data on Jewish settlement in the West Bank, data so rich that they are relied on not only by the press but even by the governments, data so on-target that the leaders of Shalom Achshav have received death threats. My friend Hagit Ofran, who heads the Settlement Watch project, is one of those who've been threatened, but will not be deterred in her work. I am proud to know her, to call her my friend.

And here in the US? Here we don't produce 40,000 people for a rally. Here we have supporters like you, as well as a remarkable - and remarkably effective - staff. Take Lara Friedman, APN's Director of Policy and Government Relations, who served as a foreign service officer in Jerusalem, Tunis and Beirut, and is widely regarded by members of Congress, US Administration officials, foreign diplomats, and other members of the foreign policy community as a leading authority on US foreign policy in the Middle East, on Israeli settlement policy and on Jerusalem. Lara frequently briefs policymakers and policy-shapers. Her influence in Washington's Mideast policy community is immense. And, of course, APN's remarkable president and CEO, Debra DeLee, a dynamo whom many of us have learned to depend upon for guidance and consistent wisdom. In 1994 and 1995, she was Chair of the Democratic National Committee. And these are just two of a remarkably small team.

I am, as many of us are these days, worried, very worried, about Israel and about the prospects for peace. But I am a tad less worried than I otherwise would be because of Shalom Achshav and APN. And that is, as I am sure you early on surmised, why I write to you now.

Americans for Peace Now does not have mega-donors. No one owns us, nor even rents us. We have a terrific staff and a terrific board as well as a terrific network of activists - tens of thousands of them - across the nation. You have been among those donors, and I thank you for that - and ask that you now renew - and if possible increase - your support. I do so with enthusiasm and with total confidence that your contribution will be used wisely.

APN is financially transparent and nimble, and donations to it are tax deductible.

Thanks, and every good wish for a peaceful holiday and a happy 2012.

Leonard Fein

Fein, an APN Board Member, is a writer and teacher who founded the National Jewish Coalition for Literacy, and was co-founder and for 12 years editor of Moment Magazine.