APN Briefing Call (12.15.16) with Senator George Mitchell and Alon Sachar

Mitchell_Sachar_Book_Cover_w_Beige_Background

Senator George Mitchell and Alon Sachar, the authors of "A Path to Peace: A Brief History of Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations and a Way Forward in the Middle East," will be the featured speakers for the APN Briefing Call on Thursday, December 15, 3:00 pm (Eastern).

To participate on the call,  phone 951-797-1058 and enter code 147414

(a recording of the call is posted here)

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News Nosh 12.08.16

APN's daily news review from Israel
Thursday December 8, 2016  
 
Quote of the day:
"Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan continues to work at a feverish pace to help Israel catch up with other advanced countries like China, North Korea and Iran."
--Haaretz Editorial slams Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan for his new "McCarthyite approach" of appointing a task force to identify companies, organizations and individuals who call for a boycott of Israel or the West Bank settlements.**
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APN today sent the following letter to the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations regarding its decision to partner with the Republic of Azerbaijan for a Hanukkah party to be held at the Trump International Hotel in Washington:

 

Stephen Greenberg, Chairman

Malcolm I. Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chairman

Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations

(via email and fax)

7 December, 2016

Dear Stephen and Malcolm,

As longtime members of the Conference of Presidents, we were shocked to learn that you have decided to celebrate Hanukkah by partnering with the Republic of Azerbaijan and by choosing the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC as the venue. We take issue with your choice of both partner and venue. Your failure to consult members of the CoP before making these odd decisions further compounds our frustration.

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News Nosh 12.07.16

APN's daily news review from Israel
Wednesday December 7, 2016  
 
Quote of the day:
"(It’s a) big middle finger in all our faces.”
--Former MK and Tel-Aviv city councilwoman Yael Dayan said of a golden statue of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu mysteriously erected - and toppled in Tel-Aviv's Rabin Square.**
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Americans for Peace Now (APN) is alarmed at recent statements and actions by President-elect Donald Trump's Israel affairs advisers, indicating support for West Bank settlements and dismissal of the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. APN is calling on the President-elect to clarify that he will follow the policies of all recent US administrations – Republican and Democratic – with respect to the Israel-Palestine question. 

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News Nosh 12.06.16

APN's daily news review from Israel
Tuesday December 6, 2016  

You Must Be Kidding #1: 
“This is a historic day. Today, the Israeli Knesset moved from heading toward establishing a Palestinian state to heading toward sovereignty in Judea and Samaria, and to remove any doubt about it -- the outpost regulation bill is the tip of the iceberg in applying sovereignty."
--Education Minister and leader of Habayit Hayehudi party, Naftali Bennet said after the passing of the settlement outpost legalization bill.*

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For Argument's Sake

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In our jointly authored book, my father, a writer, and I, a historian, took a fresh look at the mystery of Jewish survival. "Ours", we wrote, "is not a bloodline but a textline."

Book pullJews are not a people forged by blood and swords, but we are nevertheless an ancient nation. This belonging can cross international borders today; it tackles the religious-secular divide and the Israel-diaspora divide. Ours is a uniquely textual nation, whose sense of belonging comes from the Bible and a myriad of subsequent books, interpretations, arguments and questions. For many centuries, ours was the only pre-modern culture with universal male literacy, alongside significant female literacy.

Tell your Child"Tell your child": this is our oldest and best survival technique and cultural instrument. But we do not only teach our children to read and remember. We also encourage them to think afresh, and to challenge their elders with questions and ideas. Also to laugh: at ourselves, at authorities, and even at the Almighty.

As you know, all good Jewish families argue. Humor, irreverence, debate, originality, and text-based inventiveness: these are the ancient codes of Jewish survival. They explain our global sense of cousinhood - or at least a shared sense of humor - in today's world. It is the key to our three-millennia survival.

Does 'textual nationhood' mean that the Land of Israel is unimportant? That Jews ought to have remained stateless? Not in my book. The State of Israel, which my four grandparents helped build in the fields of the kibbutz and in the libraries of Jerusalem, is a miracle even to secular Jews like us. It came into being when young Jews of the 20th century transformed longing into activism, memory into state-building, and Talmudic reasoning into modern invention.

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News Nosh 12.05.16

APN's daily news review from Israel
Monday December 5, 2016  
 
Quote of the day:
"I walked around the army training grounds with a hole in my pants. For that, I served more time in military prison than Brigadier General (Ofek Buchris) who raped someone under his command."
–A soldier named Hed Einav was one of hundreds of Israeli men and women who have posted on Facebook a personal story in protest of the plea bargain which Buchris receive and adding the Hebrew hashtag #morethanBuchris.*

You Must Be Kidding: 
“We’re all fighting for this country, but maybe not in the same way. I hope that ultimately, despite it being on the verge of collapse, the state will rise above disputes. It’s OK not to agree and to come out of this with different opinions, since we’re not a herd…This was a meeting that stemmed from common concern for the future of this country and anyone who believes that democracy is important should invite Breaking the Silence to their school.”
--Ze'ev Degani, principal of Tel Aviv's Gymnasia Herzliya High School, told students why he invited Breaking the Silence to speak with them, despite pressure by the Education Ministry to cancel the invitation.
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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's new about Fateh's long-delayed seventh conference in Ramallah and unanimous reelection of Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) to head the movement; what’s wrong with Abbas remaining in power and what are the alternatives; has this at least provided an extension of peace and quiet on the West Bank; If France’s decision last week to label all goods from the West Bank and the Golan as “settlement products” rather than “made in Israel” is a blow to Israel; the "flawlessness" of the French/EU approach; and where Yossi Alpher, himself, stands on boycotting settlement goods.

NOTE: For full details of APN's policy - which advocates boycotts of settlement products and supports other activism targeting the occupation - see our dedicated policy webpage, here.

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News Nosh 12.04.16

APN's daily news review from Israel
Sunday December 4, 2016  
 
Quote of the day:
“It’s American Southern comfort food meets Arabic breakfast comfort food.”
--Jewish Israeli chef Mattan Abrahams describes the dish of slow-cooked short ribs on top of hummus, which he made with Arab Israeli chef Abu Marun as part of next weekend's Al-Sham food festival, which pairs Jewish and Arab chefs together to offer modern takes on traditional Arab recipes.*

You Must Be Kidding: 
Israel's Civil Administration in the West Bank intends to relocate the illegal Amona outpost due to its location on privately-owned Palestinian land to other land privately-owned by Palestinians. The location was chosen after the Civil Administration 'invited' the Palestinian public to submit any ownership claims to the land next to Amona’s current site. Reportedly, no one claimed three plots - yet the Civil Administration knows that they are privately owned.**


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