News Nosh 09.18.16

APN's daily news review from Israel
Sunday September 18, 2016 
 
Quote of the day:
"Israel would be shaken to its roots by such a result. Such a decision could lay the foundations for a Palestinian state."
--Rogel Alpher writes in Haaretz+ about the possibility that FIFA suspends Israel from international soccer due to its settlement soccer clubs.*
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News Nosh 09.19.16

APN's daily news review from Israel
Monday September 19, 2016 
 
Quote of the day:
“This is bad and dishonest legislation.”
--Likud MK Benny Begin was one of the few Likud MKs who opposed the bill meant to legalize settlement outposts, some of which were built on privately-owned Palestinian land.*


Breaking News:
Two Israel Police Officers Wounded, One Seriously, in Jerusalem Stabbing Attack
In sixth attack in four days, the alleged assailant, Ayman al-Kurd, 20, from the Ras al-Amoud neighborhood of East Jerusalem was shot and critically wounded only after stabbing two police officers multiple times at Old City's Herod's Gate. (Haaretz, Ynet and Maan)
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APN/Peace Now in the News: September 12 – 16, 2016

Jewish Journal: September 12
Governor Brown should veto flawed BDS law
By Steve Kaplan and Sandy Weiner, APN Board of Directors

J Weekly: September 15
American Jewish progressives must act to defend their values in Israel
By Ori Nir, APN’s Director of Communications and Public Engagement

Times of Israel: September 12
Bibi, Settlements, and the ‘Ethnic Cleansing’ Canard
By Lara Friedman, APN’s Director of Policy and Government Relations

United Press International (UPI): September 16
Israeli settlements in West Bank up 41 percent,” Peace Now criticizes increased construction in West Bank settlements.

Newsweek: September 15
Israel increases settlement starts by 40% in first half of 2016,” Peace Now cites official figures that show the largest increase in settlement construction since January 2014.

Jerusalem Post: September 15
West Bank settler housing starts up 17% in 2016,” Peace Now says Netanyahu’s government’s investment in settlements is leading Israel toward a one-state reality.

Middle East Monitor: September 14
Peace Now: Israeli settlement construction up 40%,” highlights Peace Now’s statements regarding the recent data released by the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (ICBS).

News Nosh 09.20.16

APN's daily news review from Israel
Tuesday September 20, 2016 
 
Quote of the day:
"In cases in which suspected breaches of law relate to orders he personally approved, the Military Advocate General would have to order an investigation against himself, or his subordinates."
--In a damning report, B’tselem accused the Military Advocate General (MAG) of whitewash in its probe into IDF killings of innocent Palestinian civilians during Operation Protective Edge (Gaza War 2014), noting that there is an inherent conflict of interests when asking the MAG to investigate the accusations.**
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News Nosh 09.21.16

APN's daily news review from Israel
Wednesday September 21, 2016 
 
Quote of the day:
"Barack Obama’s farewell address to the United Nations General Assembly Tuesday was starkly anti-Israeli, or at least the antithesis of the current Israeli zeitgeist. Not because of his praise for the Iran nuclear deal or his token words of condemnation of settlements and occupation, but in the deeper layers of his speech; in his shameless promotion of universal values, in the presentation of his vision as the presumptive leader of the free world, with emphasis on the word “free.”
--Haaretz US bureau chief, Chemi Shalev, explains why US President Obama's speech was perceived by some Israelis as 'anti-Israeli.'**
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Lars Faaborg-Andersen in YNet: Why Israelis should not give up on peace

Op-ed: Tonight, on the International Day of Peace, EU Ambassador Lars Faaborg-Andersen and his colleagues will be talking to Israelis at bars in Tel Aviv, Kfar Saba and Haifa, hoping to hear how they think peace can be achieved.
Today, September 21, is the International Day of Peace. This evening, my colleagues and I —the ambassadors of five EU countries—will be talking to ordinary Israelis at bars in Tel Aviv, Kfar Saba and Haifa about peace in this region and the role of the European Union in supporting it. We are looking forward to the conversation.

It is no secret that nowadays many Israelis have lost hope in the possibility of ever reaching a resolution to the conflict with their Palestinian neighbors and have adopted a fatalistic attitude. Many in Israel do not understand why the EU, among others, keeps pushing for something that appears to them to be unattainable.

We in the EU have no illusions that attaining peace between Israel and the Palestinians is an easy task. But we certainly do not think that it is an impossible task either. Indeed, compared to other conflicts in the region—from Syria to Libya—we believe that it is actually among the more resolvable conflicts. Moreover, there are very good reasons to encourage both Israel and the Palestinians to take confidence building steps, even small ones, that would gradually pave the way back to a credible peace process.

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Rosh Hashana Thoughts

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Barbara Green has been a volunteer for Americans for Peace Now for many years. She lives in Washington, DC.

This is an awkward time of the year for some secular Jews like me. We know it’s a time of renewal and perhaps even symbolic rebirth, but what does that mean if you don’t really think the supreme ruler is sitting in judgment and deciding your fate for the coming year? Well, it could mean a lot of things. For me it’s a time to take stock: to look back on the past year and own up to things done which shouldn’t have been, or not done which should have been, and everything in between. What could I do to put those things to right? And what do I hope to change in the coming year? A small aspiration of mine is the intention in the coming year to dial back my propensity for righteous indignation. Hardly a day passes when I’m not upset – if not downright angry – about events in the world but I’m learning that indignation no matter how righteous sometimes may be counter-productive.

Maimonides teaches the blowing of the shofar is intended to waken us from our mindless slumber, our symbolic sleep which allows us to turn away from blatant injustice. He admonishes us to “….look to our souls and better our ways and actions.” For me this means doubling down on my efforts to pursue an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the establishment of a Palestinian state. We Jews weren’t meant to be occupiers. Forty-nine years of holding another people under occupation is more than enough. Israeli security professionals have weighed in on this issue and concluded that the occupation does not provide security. It is a national security liability. The occupation is hurting not only Palestinians but Israelis as well – not equally but significantly.

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APN Weekly Update - Could, Should, Would, Take Action, Alpher book reviews, Nir op-ed and more

Americans for Peace Now
Americans for Peace Now: September 21, 2016


"Israelis and Palestinians will be better off if Palestinians reject incitement and recognize the legitimacy of Israel, (and if) Israel recognizes that it cannot permanently occupy and settle Palestinian land."

President Barack Obama, speaking Tuesday before the General Assembly of the United Nations.


Hard Questions, Tough Answers with Yossi Alpher

 

Yossi Alpher is an independent Israeli security analyst. Views and positions expressed here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily represent APN's views and policy positions.

September 19, 2016 - SPECIAL EDITION: Books of note

Q. The past five years of Middle East turmoil must have produced some interesting expert writing. What's the best book you’ve read lately on the Arab revolutionary wave?

A. Probably Jean-Pierre Filiu's From Deep State to Islamic State: the Arab Counter-Revolution and its Jihad Legacy...

Q. Books which analyze additional causes for the current chaos in the Arab world...

A. Emma Sky's The Unravelling: High Hopes and Missed Opportunities in Iraq, a riveting and entertaining hands-on description of the failure of the 2003 US/UK invasion of Iraq and subsequent occupation...US military role historical depth is offered by Andrew Bacevich in America's War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History...

Q. And books on the Arab revolutions that add a more human dimension?

A. Another panoramic view, this time of the entire geography of the Arab Middle East, is provided by Robert F. Worth, a distinguished NY Times correspondent, in A Rage for Order: The Middle East in Turmoil, from Tahrir square to ISIS...

Q. Anything else to recommend on the US role in the Middle East before the Arab revolutions?

A. Bruce Riedel's What We Won: America's Secret War in Afghanistan 1979-89...

Q. To round off the list, something on Israel and the Palestinians?

A. Something quite unique: Zionism in Arab Discourses, by Uriya Shavit and Ophir Winter, both of Tel Aviv University...

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Recommended Reading

Peace Parsha

The Jewish People's Dual Narrative: Parshat Ki Tavo

Rabbi Susan P. Fendrick, editor, writer, teacher, and spiritual director, writes ...We carry the memory of victimization, which should keep us vigilant, and of eons of wandering, which should stoke our empathy.

Read More

Words Matter, Actions Matter More

Aviva Meyer, APN Vice Chair, has written the publication "Words Matter, Actions Matter More" which reflects the realities and opportunities that would, could, and should make a difference.

See a reproduction of the publication HERE

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Action Alert

Thank you to the thousands of you who took action so far!

APN's Stephanie Breitsman delivers a stack of your letters to a State Department official urging a stronger response to settlement activities in Hebron and Amona.

The emails and letters you sent, and continue to send, have had a demonstrative impact. As an example, the Anti-Defamation League has now publicly renounced Prime Minister Netanyahu "ethnic cleansing" comments, and re-tweeted APN's support of them.

Urge America's Jewish organizations to repudiate Netanyahu's "ethnic cleansing" comments.


Sign our Petition: Tell Israel - Stop the land grabs, stop the settlement expansion. 


Save the West Bank Palestinian village of Sussya.


APN in Action

APN's Ori Nir in J Weekly: "American Jewish progressives must act to defend their values in Israel"

...it's hard to argue that real tolerance and open-mindedness are not an Israeli national security interest.

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Settlement Watch

40% Increase in Construction Starts in the Settlements in the First Half of 2016

Data from the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics shows that 1,195 housing units started to be constructed in the settlements in the first six months of 2016. Peace Now: Investments in the settlements do not only come on the expense of the Negev, the Galilee and the rest of Israel but also lead towards a one state reality.

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News Nosh 09.22.16

APN's daily news review from Israel
Thursday, September 22, 2016
 
You Must Be Kidding: 
“On the Harel Brigade legacy they want to install (Rehavam Zeevi) Gandhi’s (legacy) – with the transfer, expelling Arabs and fleeing the battle in its midst?”
--Zvi Kesse, 86, of Ramat Hasharon, is one of numerous Palmach veterans campaigning against the government decision to commemorate infamous former general and minister Rehavam Zeevi at a national memorial site that symbolizes the Palmach generation and its Harel Brigade.

“Have a little sensitivity. Our generation may be nearing the end of the road, but we have children, grandchildren and families.”
--Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos Horev, 92, also expressed his shame and abhorrence at the government plan to build a memorial for the infamous former general and minister, Rehavam Zeevi, at a national memorial site that symbolizes the Palmach generation and its Harel Brigade.
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