Dr. Khalil Shikaki, director of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR) in Ramallah and a professor of political science, discussed the state of Palestinian affairs following President Trump’s announcement on Jerusalem.

Dr. Shikaki has also been a senior fellow at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University since 2005. His research focuses on the peace process, Palestinian state building, public opinion, transition to democracy, and the impact of domestic Palestinian politics on the peace process.

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Washington, DC -- In the strongest possible terms, Americans for Peace Now condemns the murder of Rabbi Raziel Shevach, which occurred yesterday in the West Bank outside Nablus. According to news reports in Israeli media, Shevach was shot by an unidentified attacker who fired on his vehicle from a passing car. We note that Hamas’s military wing, while not taking responsibility for the shooting, praised the killing as “heroic” and a sign of future attacks to come. Islamic Jihad also welcomed the attack.

With great concern, we are following developments in the wake of Shevach’s killing. Israel’s right-wing politicians are shamelessly exploiting this deplorable act with calls for settlement construction, making clear that they intend to use settlement building in the Occupied Territories as a means to punish Palestinians. Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman has also ordered his agency to examine the possibility of legalizing Havat Gilad – the illegal outpost near Nablus where Shevach lived, parts of which are built on private Palestinian land.

Washington, DC -- Israel yesterday published a list of 20 organizations the activists of which will be prevented from entering the country in accordance with Israel’s 2017 Entry Law. Just as we condemn the Entry Law, Americans for Peace Now opposes this blacklist.

The Entry Law is aimed at organizations that support boycotts against Israel or West Bank settlements. Under the just-released blacklist, senior officials and key activists in blacklisted organizations who promote boycotts in an active and continuous manner will be denied entry.

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 the main strategic issues, threats and opportunities that are likely to characterize the Middle East in the new year; the influence of outside powers; what a Korean war would mean for the Middle East; how Islam will affect Israel and the region; and what's next for Israel and the Palestinians.

In Arabic, Fauda means chaos. It's also the name of a popular Israeli TV series that has made it on the international scene. Fauda's co-creator Avi Issacharoff, an Israeli journalist, talks about the show's surprising success, about the message that he and his co-creator Lior Raz are trying to convey to the Israeli audience and to the world through the show, and about the odd reactions to Fauda's second season's publicity campaign.

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Washington, DC -- Following President Trump's ill-conceived announcement on Jerusalem, which upended prospects for a US-mediated Israeli-Palestinian peace, Trump this week lashed out at Palestinians. He threatened in a pair of tweets to cut off aid to Palestinians as long as they are "no longer willing to talk peace."

While Trump did not clarify which aid he planned to target, his tweets followed an earlier statement by US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley. She had indicated that the Trump Administration wants to quit funding the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which provides assistance to some 5 million Palestinian refugees. The US is by far the largest single donor to UNRWA, providing $360 million to the relief organization for 2016.

Welcome to 2018!
Looking for hope?

Watch this short video featuring the staff and volunteers of Israel’s Peace Now movement. These young people work daily, year-round, with determination and faith, to keep alive the vision of Israel as a democracy and a Jewish state that lives in peace and security with its Palestinian neighbors.

This year, Peace Now’s activists are facing greater challenges than ever before. They need your help now. Please listen to them answer the question: "Why Peace Now?" and make a tax-deductible donation through Americans for Peace Now.

Reacting to several recent moves by Israel's government that sabotage a future Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement, Americans for Peace Now (APN) today called on fellow American Jewish organizations to join APN in vocal opposition to annexation and to unilaterally pre-judging issues that Israelis and Palestinians should negotiate to achieve a final-status peace deal.

This year has brought an assault on truth that has left us all feeling like Diogenes the Cynic, wandering the streets with a lamp, looking for “an honest man.” Since our founding, Americans for Peace Now has been meticulous in uncovering the truth. We  shine a lantern in places that extremists would prefer to keep dark and hidden. We are unshakable in our honesty, even when the truth we tell is unpopular.

So, let us get right to the point: Americans for Peace Now will continue speaking the truth in the New Year, as will our sister organization, Peace Now in Israel.  

We will speak the truth about settlements: Settlements are used to prevent a viable two-state solution, to dispossess Palestinians of their land and, sometimes even to outright punish them. Settlements are the most potent of Israel’s actions against them. Settlements are the most potent of Israel’s actions against them.  

Creeping Annexation: Changes in the Interpretation of the Laws Regarding Occupation
Settlements Watch Peace Now,
December 2017

Report's Main Points:

In recent years, the Attorney General and the State Prosecutor's Office have made dramatic changes in their positions on a number of issues regarding Israel's control over the occupied territories (OT). These changes are part of the g overnment's effort to apply the standards of Israel's democracy to settlements located in territory that is subject to belligerent Israeli occupation, where the Palestinian population lives without democracy and equal rights. These changes are contrary to previous positions of the legal echelon and the Supreme Court, and they magnify the legal question surrounding Israel's control of the OT in terms of international law.

Among other things, the Attorney General stated that:

• • It is permissible to expropriate Palestinian land in cases where the Israeli takeover was carried out "in good faith."
  • It is permissible to confiscate land for the purpose of access to a settlement.
  • Abandoned property may be used for settlement purposes.
  • It is permitted to "liquidate" the abandoned property without judicial process.
  • It is permissible to expropriate protected tenancy of the Hebron Municipality on public land, even without a judicial process.
  • Legislative changes were made to facilitate the demolition and deportation of Palestinian communities in Area C.

These changes mark another step in the policy of de facto annexation of the OT to Israel, and they are intended to "normalize" the settlements and make them part of Israel, even without declaring so.

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