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, the Trump administration undertook yet another move to delegitimize the Palestinian national movement and sever contacts with Palestinian leaders. Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, a high-ranking member of the PLO Executive Committee and head of the Department of Public Diplomacy and Policy for the Palestinian Authority, announced on May 13th that the US had denied her a visa without providing an explanation. Ashrawi, who earned a doctorate from the University of Virginia and has negotiated with every US administration from Reagan to Obama, was slated to speak at several think tanks and universities and planned to visit family. Ashrawi has been fiercely critical of the Trump administration.

As the latest of a set of hostile actions by the Trump administration against high-ranking and influential Palestinians, the denial of a visa to Hanan Ashrawi should be of great concern to advocates of a two-state solution.

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) welcomes the ceasefire reached between Israel and Hamas, while recognizing that it will provide only a lull between flareups. Security and stability for Israelis and Palestinians depend on a political settlement for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

APN strongly condemns the barrage of some 700 rockets launched by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad from the Gaza Strip at civilian communities in southern Israel. We stand with our Israeli brothers and sisters.

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.

from Aviva Meyer, APN Interim CEO and Board Vice Chair:

A few months ago I was watching Fareed Zakaria's show GPS on CNN when I heard him mention the name, Michael Walzer. Okay, when I say "watching" the show I had it on while I was trying to do a myriad of other things. But upon hearing the name Walzer I stopped what I was doing and paid attention. You see, both Michael and I serve on the board of Americans for Peace Now, where I am also the interim CEO. Fareed was paying homage to Michael's new book, "A Foreign Policy for the Left".

KEEP YOUR PLAN TO YOURSELF!

Jared Kushner, appointed by his father-in-law President Donald Trump to come up with what Trump called “the Ultimate Deal” for Israeli-Palestinian peace, has signaled that his “peace plan” does not aim to achieve a two-state solution. Kushner recently indicated that because past attempts to achieve a two-state solution failed, his plan focuses on “new and different ways to reach peace.” Kushner’s colleague, Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, said the plan is an effort to “think outside the box.”

SIGN THE PETITION: TELL JARED NO!

A peace initiative that falls short of a two-state solution is not thinking outside the box. Rather, it is boxing Israelis and Palestinians into a state of endless conflict. It is a plan that condemns Israel to becoming either a non-democratic apartheid-like state or a binational state that will lose its character as the homeland of the Jewish people. A plan like this is neither pro-peace nor pro-Israel. Instead of creating a political horizon for Israelis and Palestinians, it blocks realization of Palestinian aspirations for self-determination in a sovereign state.

Americans for Peace Now (APN) mourns the passing of Franklin Fisher z"l, who was twice the chair of its Board of Directors (1985-1989; 2006-2009) and a leading advocate for Jewish and progressive causes in the United States and in Israel.

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.

Go HERE for "American Jews, Don't Walk Away From Israel" by Debra Shushan, APN Director of Policy and Government Relations

In the coming months - and probably years - Americans will witness Israel sliding faster and deeper than ever before toward becoming an anti-democratic, intolerant, annexationist, jingoistic, fanatical, xenophobic state.

With the Trump administration’s almost unrestricted backing, Netanyahu’s new government will be much more predatory and defiant in its establishing facts on the ground that preclude a peace settlement with the Palestinians and undermine democracy.