APN Policies and Positions: Believe in Israel. Believe in Peace.

Settlements

Settlements – including settlement expansion and the proliferation of proto-settlements known as “illegal outposts” – are a political, security, and economic liability for Israel, and an existential threat to Israel as a Jewish, democratic state. Read More...

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Jerusalem

APN supports a negotiated solution to competing claims in Jerusalem. We believe that whatever the arrangements, the emergence of a Palestinian capital in Arab areas of Jerusalem would not undermine Israel's claim to Jerusalem as its capital. Rather, it could clear the way – at long last – for international recognition of Jewish Jerusalem as Israel's capital. It would make Israel's capital a more Jewish city, solidify Israel’s sovereignty over it, and allow Israel to shed the burden of ruling over hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who are not and do not desire to be Israeli. Read More...

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Iran

APN believes that the longstanding past U.S. approach to Iran, consisting almost exclusively of sanctions and saber-rattling, has failed. APN strongly supports the Obama Administration’s efforts to replace this approach with a serious, results-oriented Iran policy, comprising sanctions and meaningful incentives and founded on direct, determined US and multilateral diplomacy, without preconditions. Read More...

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A New Chapter In The Middle East

Americans for Peace Now supports President Obama in carrying out his mandate in the Middle East, and will do everything possible to work with him to realize the long-cherished and long-denied goal of peace, security, and stability for Israel and all inhabitants of the region. Read More...

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Top Stories story archive

Israeli Government Announces Settlement Moratorium

The Israeli government announced on November 25 that it was beginning a 10-month moratorium on new construction in West Bank settlements. 

Americans for Peace Now welcomed the Israeli government's announcement and joined the Obama Administration in hoping that this Israeli decision, backed by good faith, will be sufficient to catalyze new Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.

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Why Peace Now? An Appeal by A.B. Yehoshua

The renowned Israeli author and a founder of Peace Now is one of the most moral voices in Israeli society.

"Israel is capable of doing miraculous things, heroic things. I've seen them happen throughout my life. Surely a country that can do countless heroic things can find a way to peace."


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Bibi Goes Nuclear on Jerusalem Settlements

Special analysis from Lara Friedman (Americans for Peace Now) and Danny Seidemann (Ir Amim).


Yesterday Special Envoy Mitchell met with Israeli chief negotiator Yitzhak Molcho in London.

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Engaging Iran, Promoting Peace
For those who believe in Mideast peace, Iran remains an issue of central importance, and our new policy on Iran represents the only effective approach for dealing with Iran - one that looks soberly at the current situation and offers the most pragmatic, constructive, and effective way forward.

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Jerusalem Post: "Peace Now: Settlement freeze 'a historic decision in the right direction'" & "New settler home permits suspended"

November 27, 2009

Jerusalem Post: "Peace Now: Settlement freeze 'a historic decision in the right direction"

JPost.com Staff

Peace Now on Thursday voiced support for the settlement construction freeze which Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced Wednesday, calling the move "a historic decision in the right direction."

Articles re: Settlement Moratorium & Reactions

Settlements, Moratorium

Times Online (UK): "West Bank settlers carry on building as new freeze is proposed"

YNET: "Yesha Council: West Bank construction freeze illegitimate"

IPS News: "MIDEAST: Settlements "Moratorium" Still Short of Freeze"

Yedioth Ahronoth: "Freeze on a Low Flame"

Yedioth Ahronoth:"Settlers Lay Mock Foundations"

LA Times: "Jerusalem housing plan draws U.S. fire"

Jerusalem, Gilo

APN's Lara Friedman: "it will require the investment of serious political capital to stop."

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The White House, which is trying to foster peace talks, says it is 'dismayed' by an Israeli housing panel's approval of a plan to build 844 new homes in a part of Jerusalem claimed by Palestinians.

By Richard Boudreaux, Reporting from Jerusalem

APN Urges House to Oppose IRPSA; Suggests Changes to Sanctions Bill

December 7, 2009

CONTACT:  Ori Nir - (202) 408-9898 / onir@peacenow.org

Washington, D.C - Americans for Peace Now (APN) today urged the House of Representatives to oppose the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act (IRPSA) in its current form. APN proposed to the House specific changes to the bill, to focus the legislation on smart, targeted sanctions rather than on "crippling" sanctions that inflict widespread suffering on the Iranian people.

APN Welcomes Settlement Moratorium Announcement, Urges Good Faith

November 25, 2009

Washington, DC -- Americans for Peace Now (APN) today welcomed the Israeli government's announcement of a moratorium on most settlement construction and joined the Obama Administration in hoping that this Israeli decision, backed by good faith, will be sufficient to catalyze new Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. Such negotiations are the only real path for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
 

APN Board to Israel: Launch Independent Investigation into Gaza Invasion

Gaza

Washington D.C. APN's Board of Directors met here today and unanimously to urge Israel's government to launch its own independent investigation of alleged violations of human rights and international law that may have taken place in the context of the Gaza war, including those documented in the United Nations Human Rights Council report on last winter's Gaza conflict,known as the "Goldstone Report."


Ha'aretz: "No to settlements is yes to peace" by Eric Yoffie

October 30, 2009

Too many American Jewish groups have their heads in the sand when it comes to the damage the settlement project has done to Israel. They embrace those on the American religious right who endorse settlement as a religious principle, without realizing that the influence of these groups is declining.

Today's Haaretz Editorial: Bibi and Barak's Settlements Risk Israel's Future

October 18, 2009

This excellent editorial speaks for itself...

Ha'aretz: "
Hilltop Double-talk"

While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tries to battle the Goldstone report in the name of Israel's right to self-defense, and his envoys and the U.S. administration discuss terms for renewing negotiations with the Palestinians, his government is developing infrastructure in dozens of West Bank settlements. 

Huffington Post: "Netanyahu, the Tunnels Opener" by Peace Now's Hagit Ofran

October 6, 2009

Hagit Ofran is the director the Settlement Watch project of the Israeli Peace Now movement (Shalom Achshav). Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hagit-ofran.

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Last week, an incident that could have set the entire Middle East on fire was prevented. Netanyahu's secret plan to visit a disputed tunnel in the East Jerusalem Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan, at the site known as Ir David (the City of David), was canceled, probably with some international intervention. Am I exaggerating the danger? No.