Around 15% of the Jewish settlers’ population in the West Bank are of American origin, American Jews who have made Aliyah (emigrated to Israel), and chose to settle the West Bank.

It feels as if their proportion is even larger, because they are so central to the ideological settlers’ movement, so active and so vociferous.

The expert on this issue is Dr. Sara Yael Hirschhorn, a lecturer at Oxford University in the UK. Her recently published book on this topic, is City on a Hilltop. Sara spoke about the focus of her research at a book event co-sponsored by the Foundation for Middle East Peace and Americans for Peace Now at Busboys and Poets in Washington DC on June 25th. This show is an edited version of her talk. I moderated the discussion, and learned a lot.

Yossi Alpher is an independent security analyst. He is the former director of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University, a former senior official with the Mossad, and a former IDF intelligence officer. Views and positions expressed here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily represent APN's views and policy positions.

This week, Alpher discusses what it means for Israel and the US that Syria's President Bashar Assad appears to have survived the prolonged insurrection against him; why Israel has stepped up assistance, including military assistance, to relatively moderate Syrian rebel groups across the Golan border; what is changing with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon; where the US comes into the picture; and American boots on the ground in Syria and the bigger strategic picture.

Irish Times: June 20, 2017
"Israel's peace movement: 'Only soldiers see the occupation,'" Peace Now mentioned in a story about the state of the Israeli peace movement.

Los Angeles Times: June 20, 2017
"Ahead of Jared Kushner's visit to help broker peace, Israel touts new settlement," Peace Now's Hagit Ofran blasts construction of new West Bank settlement.

Algemeiner: June 20, 2017
"Illiberal Left Attacks Christian Zionists, Again," Christians United for Israel commends APN for not demonizing Christian Zionists, despite disagreements.

(From left to right: Hashem Sayed, Jessica Klein, and Katya Lipovetsky)

As we do every summer, we are hosting an intern enrolled in the Union for Reform Judaism Machon Kaplan program. This year, our Machon Kaplan intern is Jessica Klein of New Rochelle NY, a rising junior at Penn State University.

And, for the seventh consecutive year, we are hosting interns enrolled in the New Story Leadership (NSL) program, which gives young Israelis and Palestinians the opportunity to spend a summer in Washington, DC engaging each other in intense dialogue, forging relationships, and building their narrative and leadership skills.

Our NSL interns this year are Hashem Sayed and Katya Lipovetsky. Hashem is a Palestinian from East Jerusalem. He has a bachelor’s degree in Development Studies from Al-Quds University and recently received a full-scholarship for a Masters program in Environmental Anthropology at Ben-Gurion University. He sees his future career as an academic researcher in anthropology, encouraging development in Palestinian communities by raising awareness about sustainability saving the environment. Katya, an Israeli,  has a B.A. in Political Science and Sociology-Anthropology from Hebrew University in Jerusalem and recently completed an internship with Concordia Summit in New York, where she worked with the Social Impact team on campaigns against labor trafficking, food waste and supply, animal welfare and more. Katya is eager to see what life will bring and how her experience in NSL and with APN will shape her understanding and broaden her horizons.