Contemporary Jerusalem is an "undivided" city only in slogans. On the ground, it is a visibly divided city. It is a city where one-third of the population is Palestinian, in addition to large Palestinian urban areas lying just beyond the municipal border. It is a city where the patterns of life reflect two distinct populations - Israelis and Palestinians - living separate and rarely overlapping existences. It is a city that has deep political, historical, economic, and cultural significance to Palestinians, and deep religious meaning not only for Jews, but also for Christians and Muslims everywhere. (Excerpt from APN’s “They Say, We Say” entry on this topic.)

Jerusalem Burning: Briefing call with Lara Friedman & Danny Seidemann
Reclaiming Israel's Future: Jerusalem
The Jerusalem chapter from APN’s publication, “They Say, We Say”.

APN Articles

Lara Friedman & Daniel Seidemann in the Jerusalem Post: A divided city (November 11, 2014)
R. Alana Suskin in the Washington Jewish Week: On the Temple Mount…(November 6, 2014)
"Jerusalem: Learn More!" A round-up of APN articles from 2005 through June 2014.
Lara Friedman on the APN Blog:  Sacrificing Israel’s Friendships – and Future— at the Altar of Elad (October 15, 2014)

Recommended Readings

APN Board member Jo-Ann Mort in Haaretz - Shattering a Jewish American myth: Jerusalem is no Disneyland (November 13, 2014)
An Interview with Daniel Seidemann: Coming To Terms With ‘Reality’ Of Jerusalem.  Stewart Ain in The New York Jewish Week (November 12, 2014)
Asher Schechter in Haaretz The Temple Mount is a powder keg, and arsonists have the upper hand.  (November 12, 2014)
Middle East Monitor: Rabbi David Yosef writes to Netanyahu on closing the area of the Temple Mount to Jewish visitors (November 11, 2014)
International Crisis Group:  Mounting Tensions: Jerusalem’s Holy Esplanade (November 10, 2014)
Jerusalem Post: Ya'alon: Israeli politicians' visits to Temple Mount provoked Jerusalem terror attacks (November 8, 2014)
Times of Israel: Jews must stop Temple Mount visits, Sephardi chief rabbi says (November 7, 2014)
Haaretz+: 'Netanyahu was repeatedly warned of dangers on Temple Mount' (November 7, 2014)
Haaretz+: Israel's ties with Jordan put to test in face of Jerusalem crisis (Zvi Bar'el) (November 6, 2014)
+972: The 'Jerusalem Intifada,' the president and the cliff (November 6, 2014)
Haaretz: FM Lieberman: Politicians visiting Temple Mount - headline-chasing idiocy (November 6, 2014)
Jerusalem Post: Liberman slams MKs for Temple Mount visits as PM says Jerusalem status quo won't change  (November 6, 2014)
Jerusalem Post: Haredi daily: Close Temple Mount to Jews (November 6, 2014)
NPR: Why Jerusalem's Real Estate Market Is Part Of The Mideast Conflict (November 6, 2014)
Btselem: Draconian measures against deprived population not a solution (November 5, 2014)
The Nation:Jerusalem’s Palestinian Neighborhoods Are Under Economic Siege (November 4, 2014)
Haaretz+: Israel's right-wing fanatics don't speak for the people (November 4, 2014)
+972: How Likud became the Almighty's contractor at the Temple Mount (November 4, 2014)
Akiva Eldar in Al-Monitor: Netanyahu government threatens Temple Mount (November 3, 2014)
Danny Seidemann at Terrestrial Jerusalem: Attempted Assassination Raises the Stakes at the Temple Mount (November 3, 2014)
Danny Seidemann at Terrestrial Jerusalem: Reasons Behind Escalating Temple Mount Crisis (November 3, 2014)
Haaretz+: O Jerusalem, Israelis have already forgotten thee (November 2, 2014)
+972: The only way to stop stone throwing is to end the occupation (November 3, 2014)
+972: The fraud that is the Temple Mount movement (October 31, 2014)
New York Times: Friction Grows Between Israel and Jordan Over Revered Location (October 31, 2014)
Times of Israel:  With no local leadership, East Jerusalem violence roils (October 29, 2014)
Washington Post: Jerusalem train line destined to connect Jews and Arabs has widened bitter divide (October 26, 2014)

Most American Jewish tour groups are shown a historical-religious theme park version of a nominally 'united' Jerusalem - in which the Arabic-speaking, Palestinian east of the city and its grievances is simply invisible.

Imagine this is your city.

Imagine that one of its neighborhoods is Shuafat, a walled-off refugee camp with 80,000 people and no legal order or adequate city services, where zealots who recognize the rule of a Supreme Being not a Supreme Court judge, take actions that are daily heightening tensions in the city and new tenants take over the top floor of a home under the veil of darkness and proclaim that they are "Judaizing" the street of an overwhelmingly Arab neighborhood, throwing out the belongings of the family who is living there and camping on the top floor with their children, and their guns.

Welcome to Jerusalem, yes, Jerusalem.

Continue Reading

On November 14 2014, APN hosted Barbara Slavin of the Atlantic Council and al-Monitor.com, an expert on Iran, for a briefing call on the deal brewing between Teheran and the international community, as they approach the November 24 deadline for a comprehensive solution to Iran's nuclear program.

APN's daily news review from Israel

Sunday November 16, 2014
 

Quote of the day:

"There is a place for criticism, but whoever is not committed to the principles of the corps - I will assist him in being released (from the corps)."
--Border Police Commander Amos Yaakov tells Border Policemen hints disapproval of the campaign against the Border policeman arrested on suspicion of murdering two Palestinian protesters.**

This week, Alpher discusses the meeting last week between Secretary of State John Kerry, King Abdullah II and PM Netanyahu, and whether that meeting signals a new departure in Israeli-Palestinian and Israel-Arab relations regarding Jerusalem; the talk of new elections in Israel brought on by the government's lack of cohesiveness; how the current borders of the "united" Jerusalem come about and what the rationale was, and whether it is still valid; and why the Shin Bet, an internal security service, is still responsible for intelligence regarding Gaza, from which Israel withdrew in 2005.

Jerusalem Report (JPost's magazine) - November 11, 2014
APN's Lara Friedman and Daniel Seidemann: Underlying cause of current crisis is dysfunctional Israeli rule in East Jerusalem
http://www.jpost.com/Jerusalem-Report/A-divided-city-381450?prmusr=%2feSJO4jmDZNuFM82ZvaN3A%2b73NYOy5wDFQABBMf1X%2b%2bb3bLz4Usb2YZdzQ6R4XBa

Times of Israel - November 12, 2014
Peace Now's Lior Amihai condemns new planned construction in East Jerusalem
http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-approves-200-new-homes-in-jewish-e-jerusalem-area/

John Hopkin's Newsletter - November 13, 2014
APN's Ori Nir and ATFP's Ghaith Al-Omari speak at Johns Hopkins University
http://www.jhunewsletter.com/2014/11/13/j-street-panelists-discuss-contemporary-politics-90521/

The following post by Rabbi Yehiel Grenimann of Rabbis for Human Rights was originally posted on RHR's web site on November 14, 2014, and is reprinted here by permission from the author.

 A mosque was badly arsoned, presumably by Jewish extremists, in the early hours of November 12 2014 in the village of Al Mughayir. About a month prior, another mosque, in a different Palestinian village in the Occupied Territories, was also burned. Rabbi Yehiel Grenimann of RHR visited the mosque in Al Mughayir and writes of his shock at the severity of the arson.