APN is live-tweeting our annual study tour through Israel and the West Bank, as participants meet with politicians, journalists, and experts- all while witnessing first-hand the consequences of the Israel-Palestinian conflict. See below for highlights of the tour so far, and follow APN's twitter feed for up-to-the-second tweets, including those from Israel.
Newsweek - August 31, 2014
Peace Now: Largest West Bank land appropriation in 30 years
http://www.newsweek.com/israel-appropriates-west-bank-land-possible-settlement-use-267768
New York Times - August 31, 2014
Peace Now's Yariv Oppenheimer: New land appropriation is a political knife in the back of
Abbas
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/01/world/middleeast/israel-claims-nearly-1000-acres-of-west-bank-land-near-bethlehem.html?_r=2
Haaretz - September 3, 2014
Peace Now: Largest West Bank land appropriation in 30 years
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.613825
Haaretz - September 3, 2014
Peace Now: Land grab meant to link Israel with West Bank, not just expand settlements
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.613852
(Translated from Hebrew and reprinted in the Commentary/Analysis section of APN's News Nosh on September 1, 2014)
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Now of all times, when a political initiative is needed, when
Hamas is trying to portray itself as the savior of the Palestinian people, when Abbas was forced to deal with
harsh criticism for not battling enough against Israel - now of all times, Netanyahu decides to declare 4,000
dunams (nearly 1000 acres) in Gush Etzion as state land. How will Abbas explain to his people the disregard
and aggression of the Netanyahu government towards him? While Abbas tried to moderate and calm the area,
Netanyahu humiliates him in front of his people.
According to international law, the decision to make land state land requires the sovereign to designate the land for the benefit of the general population in the area. It's no secret that when it comes to the Territories, the only ones to benefit from state land are settlers.
At the present time, preparations are moving ahead for establishing a new settlement near the Palestinian village of Nahla (south of Bethlehem and east of the settlement Efrat). Establishing this settlement would bisect the West Bank and seriously damage the chance for a two-states solution (as would the plan to expand Maaleh Adumim westward to area “E1”, east of Jerusalem), and for this reason we call this plan E2. The plan is for 2,500 housing units on an area of about 1,700 dunams (i.e.170 hectares or 425 acres).
Q. The obvious opening question is, will the Gaza ceasefire hold?
A. At this point in time, barely a week after the ceasefire agreement and several weeks before talks on substantive
issues are scheduled to begin in Cairo, three scenarios appear possible.
