List of terms commonly used in regard to Israeli settlements and/or generally associated with the Israeli settlement enterprise. Read More >
Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is known for the quip "If you can't solve a problem, enlarge it." Opponents of Israeli-Palestinian peace have their own spin on that quip, best summed up as, "If you don't want to solve a problem, pile on more problems." As a result, a valuable metric for gauging how seriously things are going in Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts - or, at least, how worried anti-peace folks are getting that things are going seriously - has long been the extent to which opponents of peace are ginning up discredited, specious, or disingenuous arguments. And a look at current headlines indicates that opponents of peace are taking the Kerry peace effort very seriously, indeed.
Today, Peace Now's Settlement Watch issued the following update regarding new settlement-related developments in Hebron:
Study that looks at the various budgets of local Israeli settlement authorities to determine the financial costs of the settlement enterprise. Examines how Israel transfers money to the settlements, how the government subsidizes settlement housing, and how the Education and Interior Ministries bolster the settlement enterprise. PDF >
Interactive map app that can be used to explore data about settlement activity in the West Bank. Organized into several layers that show different kinds of data, the map is constantly updated and can be customized to fit each user's preferences. See More >
Examination of what a settlements freeze means, the likelihood of its implementation, and the options available to the government of Israel. Read More >
Update: this action, now closed, ran from December 2013-January 2014.
We knew the fight to keep Iran-focused diplomacy alive wasn't over - and we were right. Just before the Senate went home for the holidays, Senators Menendez (D-NJ), Kirk (R-IL) and a group of 25 colleagues introduced a new and highly problematic Iran sanctions bill in the Senate - S. 1881, ironically named the "Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act of 2013." Over the holiday break, this bill was the focal point of a major lobbying effort, with AIPAC and other groups working intensively to get Senators to cosponsor the measure -- and this effort will pick up additional steam in the coming days.
Up-to-date reports, news, op-eds, events and all other activity by Americans for Peace Now related to Israeli settlements. The entire database can be searched at the bottom of the page, and the full archives can also be browsed. Read More >
Last week, Dov Weisglass - former top advisor to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon - wrote in Yedioth Ahronoth (Hebrew edition) about the Israeli security needs and the Jordan Valley. His article, translated by Israel News Today (INT), is required reading for anyone following this issue and how it is being exploited today in efforts to block progress toward an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.