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Tracking West Bank settlements just got a whole lot easier

This morning APN is releasing an interactive mapping tool that is going to change the debate about settlements forever.

I'm very excited. We've been working on this revolutionary app for close to a year. It is finally ready for you to check out online or on an iPhone or iPad.

Settlements stand in the way of peace. In the short-term, news of their expansion can derail President Barack Obama's efforts to get real peace talks going. In the long-term, unchecked settlement expansion can spell the end for Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.

But that hasn't stopped settler leaders and other talking heads from spouting empty rhetoric about how construction in settlements doesn't really matter. Their tactic is simple: take advantage of the complexity of the situation to obscure construction that undermines peace.

All of that changes today.

From now on, anyone with an iPhone or an Internet connection can access Facts on the Ground: The APN Map App and get a clear - and constantly updating - picture of developments. This new transparency is doubly important today, as Israel considers abandoning its 'freeze' on new settlement construction. 

Click here to check out Facts on the Ground: The APN Map App on your computer.

Click here to download the app for your iPhone or iPad. (And we'll be launching Droid and Hebrew versions soon).

APN and Peace Now work to make sure that key journalists and policymakers understand the situation on the ground. We go with them to the West Bank to show them the situation. Our experts brief them in their offices. Rep. Howard Berman - Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee - acknowledged the importance of the briefings he gets from APN back in January.  In an article about settlement facts that Peace Now uncovered, the New York Times wrote that our movement has a "record of careful and accurate reporting on settlement growth."

This app democratizes information about settlements. You don't have to be the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, a New York Times reporter, or a Peace Now activist in Israel to see this anymore. Anyone can explore the West Bank with just a click of a mouse or a touch of a finger.

Our goal is to revolutionize the debate over settlements, breaking through polemics and spin, to anchor the discussion in the facts. While people are entitled to their opinions on this divisive issue, there is only one set of facts, and our app makes them available in unprecedented clarity and detail.

This unique tool - there is nothing like it anywhere - is made possible by integrating the latest technologies with the unparalleled expertise of the Israeli Peace Now movement's Settlements Watch team.

The result is dazzling.