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 special episode of PeaceCast is produced in partnership with T’ruah, the Rabbinic Call for Human Rights.

It features six stories told by rabbinical students at a recent story telling evening in Israel, at the end of their one-year T’ruah program there.

Produced by the Foundation for Middle East Peace in cooperation with Americans for Peace Now, where the Legislative Round-Up was conceived

1. Bills & Resolutions - Israel/Palestine
2. Bills & Resolutions - Iran
3. Bills & Resolutions - Approps/Auth bills
4. Bills & Resolutions - Syria
5. Bills & Resolutions - Arms Sales to KSA & UAE
6. Bills & Resolutions - MISC
7. Letters
8. Hearings
9. On the Record

Americans for Peace Now, J Street, T’ruah, Ameinu, New Israel Fund, Jewish Labor Committee, Partners for Progressive Israel, Hashomer Hatzair, and National Council of Jewish Women welcome the reintroduction of legislation to establish a Partnership Fund for Peace. The Fund will support people-to-people peacebuilding programs, which play an important role in building connections, understanding, and reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians. It will also finance joint ventures between Palestinian companies and businesses in the United States and Israel.

While we welcome the legislation, we are concerned about the political moment in which this legislation is being introduced. It is increasingly clear that the Trump administration’s “peace” approach entails forcing the Palestinians to give up on statehood in exchange for promises of economic development. Some may therefore read this bill as endorsement of an “economic peace” approach.

We strongly emphasize that our endorsement of the Partnership Fund for Peace should not be read that way. As the legislation states, a strengthened Palestinian economy and improved people-to-people ties are central to prospects for a two-state solution. The converse is also true: a diplomatic solution and an end to occupation are essential both to the growth of the Palestinian economy and to Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation. Economic development is no substitute for a political agreement that will resolve the core issues driving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.