1. Bills, Resolutions & Letters
2. Hearings
3. Members on the Record
4. From the Press
Congress is out of session next week, so no Round-Up! And to all who are celebrating, Shana Tovah!
1. Bills, Resolutions & Letters
2. Hearings
3. Members on the Record
4. From the Press
Congress is out of session next week, so no Round-Up! And to all who are celebrating, Shana Tovah!
Newsweek - August 31, 2014
Peace Now: Largest West Bank land appropriation in 30 years
http://www.newsweek.com/israel-appropriates-west-bank-land-possible-settlement-use-267768
New York Times - August 31, 2014
Peace Now's Yariv Oppenheimer: New land appropriation is a political knife in the back of
Abbas
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/01/world/middleeast/israel-claims-nearly-1000-acres-of-west-bank-land-near-bethlehem.html?_r=2
Haaretz - September 3, 2014
Peace Now: Largest West Bank land appropriation in 30 years
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.613825
Haaretz - September 3, 2014
Peace Now: Land grab meant to link Israel with West Bank, not just expand settlements
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.613852
The Forward - September 12, 2014
APN Board Member Kathleen Peratis writes about her recent visit to Gaza
http://forward.com/articles/205541/walking-amid-the-rubble-of-gaza/
The Middle East Eye - September 5, 2014
Peace Now's Yariv Oppenheimer on the movement's dilemma during the Gaza war
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-s-zionist-left-chronicle-ambivalence-2036189258
The NY Jewish Week - September 10, 2014
Hagit Ofran and Lara Friedman comment on legal process concerning Gush Etzion bloc and the motivations behind
Israel's declaration of it as "state land"
http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/israel-news/gush-bloc-land-may-not-end-up-israeli-hands>
The Jerusalem Post - September 11, 2014
A reflection by Rabbi Barry Leff on his tour to Hebron with APN's Study Tour
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/A-rare-visit-to-Hebron-375122
Boston Globe - September 15, 2014
In Memory: Leonard Fein
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/09/14/leonard-fein-writer-and-activist-illuminated-roles-and-responsibilities-america-jews/PIzs464sVq3Qy1f3HZGiiM/story.html
Boston Globe (AP Story) - September 17, 2014
Peace Now's Yariv Oppenheimer commenting on surge in number of West Bank settlers
http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/world/2014/09/16/west-bank-settler-group-boasts-rapid-growth/9TjFJXTydM6EFQndZ5TpML/story.html
LA Jewish Journal - September 17, 2014
Peace Now data quoted in opinion article criticizing Israeli government's West Bank settlement
policy
http://www.jewishjournal.com/opinion/article/west_bank_land_grab_undermines_two_state_advocacy
Haaretz - September 18, 2014
Peace Now data quoted in opinion article criticizing Israeli government's West Bank settlement
policy
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.616291
This is another in a series of reviews of new books on Middle Eastern affairs. We asked Dr. Gail Weigl, an APN volunteer and a professor of art history, to review the book Seeking Palestine, edited by Penny Johnson and Raja Shehadeh.
Penny Johnson and Raja Shehadeh, Seeking Palestine: New Palestinian
Writing on Exile and Home (Northampton, Massachusetts: Olive Branch
Press, 2013), 202 pages. $16.00.
What does it mean to be an exile from Palestine? Is it defined merely by physical dislocation, or is it less tied to a place than to an idea, to a Palestine that once or perhaps never existed, to a pervasive sense of being displaced, even from a land that was not the land of one’s birth? The essays that compose Seeking Palestine: New Palestinian Writing on Exile and Home examine notions of exile, of Palestine, of Palestinian identity in diaspora from the perspectives of poets, academics, novelists, artists and independent writers living as outcasts from a country that never existed as a nation-state, the idea of which calls forth irrepressible longing for a way of life known only through memories, many of those not memories of their own. These writers ask themselves what it means to cling to an identity, a way of life, a set of grievances across generations, and whether the persistence of an idea and an identity can persuade the world at large to seriously address the Palestinian longing to return to their homeland.
This week, Alpher discusses the prospects of nuclear negotiations with Iran and Gaza negotiations in Cairo; whether a new intifada has erupted in East Jerusalem; is the resignation of a senior Likud minister who was conflicted with Netanyahu, leaving the party second in size to Yesh Atid in the Knesset, the beginning of the end for the current government;
The lobbying group AIPAC has consistently fought the Obama Administration on policy. Is it now losing influence?
By Connie Bruck
On July 23rd, officials of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee—the powerful lobbying group known as AIPAC—gathered in a conference room at the Capitol for a closed meeting with a dozen Democratic senators. The agenda of the meeting, which was attended by other Jewish leaders as well, was the war in the Gaza Strip. In the century-long conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians, the previous two weeks had been particularly harrowing. In Israeli towns and cities, families heard sirens warning of incoming rockets and raced to shelters. In Gaza, there were scenes of utter devastation, with hundreds of Palestinian children dead from bombing and mortar fire. The Israeli government claimed that it had taken extraordinary measures to minimize civilian casualties, but the United Nations was launching an inquiry into possible war crimes. Even before the fighting escalated, the United States, Israel’s closest ally, had made little secret of its frustration with the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “How will it have peace if it is unwilling to delineate a border, end the occupation, and allow for Palestinian sovereignty, security, and dignity?” Philip Gordon, the White House coördinator for the Middle East, said in early July. “It cannot maintain military control of another people indefinitely. Doing so is not only wrong but a recipe for resentment and recurring instability.” Although the Administration repeatedly reaffirmed its support for Israel, it was clearly uncomfortable with the scale of Israel’s aggression. AIPAC did not share this unease; it endorsed a Senate resolution in support of Israel’s “right to defend its citizens,” which had seventy-nine co-sponsors and passed without a word of dissent.