Below is the message sent May 14, 2012 to House staffers expressing APN's opposition to H. Res. 568.

Tomorrow, the House is scheduled to bring H. Res. 568, dealing with Iran, to the floor under suspension of the rules.

Americans for Peace Now (APN) urges members of Congress to vote NO or PRESENT on this resolution.

The House is scheduled to vote tomorrow on H. Res. 568, an Iran-focused resolution that seeks to lower the bar for war, to tie the President's hands in negotiations, and to effectively take all options, except the military option, off the table. It appears to be no coincidence that this resolution is being brought to a vote now, just as a new round of Iran diplomacy is set to take place on May 23.

Call your member of Congress today and tell them: vote "No" or "Present" on H. Res. 568.

Netanyahu's last-minute unity government

Alpher discusses why PM Netanyahu reversed himself last week at the last minute, canceled the September 4 general election, and brought Kadima into a broad unity government, and what do he and Mofaz stand to gain or lose.

APN hosted leading Israeli political commentator, Akiva Eldar of Haaretz on May 10th, for a briefing call on the latest dramatic political developments in Israel.

Americans for Peace Now Board Member Mandy Patinkin today toured the West Bank and East Jerusalem with Israel's Peace Now movement and spoke at an annual conference of Israel's peace camp, addressing a crowd of 700 progressive activists.

Thank you, Ambassador Oren.  On Sunday you told an audience in Detroit what "pro-Israel" means.

You said that "The person who is pro-Israel recalls what Jewish life was like without a Jewish state and works to ensure that there always will be a Jewish state." Someone who "knows that there is a place at our table for divergent views. But irrespective of politics... asks, 'how can I contribute to Israel, how can I enrich it and be enriched by it...?'"  Someone who "appreciates the immense threats the people of Israel face every day" and "understands the threats to Israel of not achieving peace but also understands the threat to Israel of making a peace that will quickly unravel..."

Last night's dramatic news caught everyone by surprise: following secret negotiations, the Kadima party has agreed to join Benjamin Netanyahu's government, establishing a "unity government."  On its  face, this breathtaking political development in Israel does not promise a breakthrough toward peace. But as it is with every major shakeup, the new alliance between Israel's largest parties also presents opportunities.

As we reported earlier, on April 27th Israeli government announced its intention to once again flout Israeli law in order to protect another illegal settler outpost -- "Givat Ha'Ulpana" (aka Jabel Artis).  This outpost is located deep inside the West Bank, near Ramallah, and far to the east of Israel's "separation barrier."  The Israeli government had previously promised the Israeli High Court of Justice that it would remove the illegal construction at this site by May 1, 2012, but as that deadline approached, last month the State told the court that it had changed its mind and asked for more time to find a way to "legalize" the illegal construction.

The Supreme Court, however, apparently has not changed its mind on the question of whether rule of law applies to outposts.  On May 6th, that court of rejected the State's request to postpone Ulpana's eviction.  The Court ruled, instead, that the demolition must be carried out by July 1st.  The full court ruling is available here (Hebrew only).

The Israeli Supreme Court handed another ruling, on May 7th, blasting the Israeli government's position on illegal West Bank "outposts, built on land privately owned by Palestinians. Peace Now's lawyer, Michael Sfard, talks about the case and its significance.

Read the Forward's profile of Michael Sfard here.

Alpher discusses what the significance is of PM Binyamin Netanyahu's decision to hold elections in early September, and of the move to disband the outgoing Knesset immediately, what are the chances that the parties of the center-left could displace Netanyahu or force the Likud into a more moderate coalition, whether  the prospect of elections rules out a preventive Israeli attack on Iran in the coming months and what are the ramifications for Egyptian-Israeli peace and for Israel's energy economy of Egypt cancelling its commercial contract to deliver natural gas to Israel.