Listen to the recording of the Tuesday, March 3rd briefing call with Israeli political and strategic affairs analyst Yossi Alpher, the day following the  Israeli election:

Yossi Alpher, an independent security analyst, is the former director of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University, a former senior official with Israel’s Mossad, and a former IDF intelligence officer. He is the author of Hard Questions Tough Answers, APN’s weekly analysis of Israeli and Middle Eastern strategic affairs.

Join us for our upcoming live webinar (accessed via computer or phone), co-sponsored by APN and Partners for Progressive Israel:

"Deal of the Century": What Now for the Israeli Left?

Discussion with:
        · Aluf Benn, Editor-in-Chief of Haaretz
        · Akiva Eldar, columnist for Al-Monitor’s Israel Pulse

Moderator: Jodi Rudoren, Editor-in-Chief of The Forward.

Thursday, March 12

12:30 - 1:30pm Eastern Time / 9:30 -10:30am Pacific

REGISTER TO PARTICIPATE

Americans for Peace Now (APN) is alarmed at the Israeli government's advancement of three new settlement initiatives around East Jerusalem, which would deny contiguity to a future Palestinian state.

These are plans that in the past were blocked by US administrations, both Republican and Democratic. Now -- less than a week before Israel's general elections, and as a joint Israeli-American committee starts discussing the status of West Bank settlements – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is going ahead with the most consequential settlement plan in years.

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.

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.

Last year I wrote a Peace Parsha for Tu B'Shevat in which I asked: When did we go from being a people who plant trees to a people who cut them down?

I didn't mean ordinary every-day Jews who go about their business without thinking much about trees. Or ordinary Jewish Israelis who have a long tradition of planting and caring for trees. The Torah commands us to refrain from picking fruit from trees until they are three years old. When we go to war against another people, we are commanded to leave fruit-bearing trees intact to ensure a source of food.

No, I'm talking about Israeli Jewish settlers in the West Bank -- the occupied territories -- who have weaponized Palestinian trees. Ironically, the trees they burn and cut down are olive trees -- the very symbol of peace. But these Jews aren't making peace. They're waging an undeclared war against the Palestinians by destroying their livelihood, their labor, their identity, and their humanity. It's the purposeful destruction of their hopes, and the message is clear: "Palestinians not wanted here."

Go HERE to view and download Peace Now's map of the Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Go HERE for an interactive map of the settlements

Thirty seven years ago, on February 10^th 1983, Peace Now activist Emil Grunzweig was murdered by an extreme right Jewish terrorist at a Peace Now demonstration in Jerusalem.

Not far from the Prime Minister’s Office, the terrorist, Yona Avrushmi,  lobbed a hand grenade at the front row of the Peace Now marchers. It killed Emil and injured nine of his friends.

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.

Americans for Peace Now (APN) is alarmed at the sharp increase in Palestinian-Israeli violence since the Trump administration released its “vision” for Israeli-Palestinian relations last week.