Americans for Peace Now (APN) is horrified by the spiraling death-toll of the war between Israel and Hamas. Having urged a ceasefire for the past two weeks, APN welcomes the Obama administration’s efforts to achieve an immediate ceasefire, and urges it to resume diplomatic efforts toward a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

APN strongly supports Israel’s right for self-defense and its government’s obligation to provide security for its citizens. As a Zionist, Jewish organization and as the sister-organization of the Israeli grassroots movement Shalom Achshav (Peace Now), we fully share the security concerns of the people of Israel and the yearning of Israelis for peace.
 
We mourn the death of Israeli civilians and of Israeli soldiers in the current hostilities. We also mourn the alarmingly spiraling deaths of hundreds of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip – over 500 so far.

APN's daily news review from Israel

Monday July 21, 2014
 

Quote of the day:

"I’ve already raised the white flag. I’ve stopped searching the dictionary for the word to describe half of a boy’s missing head while his father screams 'Wake up, wake up, I bought you a toy!' 
--Haaretz's Amira Hass expresses her frustration at sharing stories from the Palestinian side that no one hears and about 'analysts' and 'experts' who don't understand the people on the ground.**

APN's daily news review from Israel

Sunday July 20, 2014
 

Quote of the day:

"They are not to blame for the situation."
--Israeli doctors at Sheba Hospital perform life-saving surgery on Palestinian baby, while sirens go off.**

This week Alpher discusses War in Gaza: as of Monday afternoon July 21 Israel time:

Was it necessary for the IDF's Golani brigade to go into Gaza's eastern district of Shejaiya and fight a battle that caused such heavy losses on both sides and if there is a broader meaning to all this death and destruction in and around Gaza; accusations that the IDF is perpetrating war crimes in Gaza; why Hamas' ceasefire conditions are outlandish; how will this end and some early strategic lessons learned.

Ben Birnbaum and Amir Tibon / New Republic (July 20, 2014)
Provides in-depth detail into the John Kerry-led negotiations between Israel and Palestine and the reasons for its failure. Read More >

Arnon Avni, an Israeli cartoonist who lives in Nirim, a tiny kibbutz right on the border with the Gaza Strip, and a longtime Peace Now activist, on July 18 2014 spoke to APN about living in a war zone and about what keeps him committed to the cause of Israeli-Palestinian peace.

A little more than a month ago, following the collapse of the US-brokered Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations initiative, APN issued a bold position paper calling for bolder action to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Along with this paper, we began a six week campaign to educate and take action on the core issues in this conflict: settlements, Jerusalem, borders and security, hatred and incitement, issues pertaining to the conflicting narratives of Israelis and Palestinians, and a final week that looks to the future and talks about what we can do to support a two-state solution.

The bloody deterioration that we have witnessed on the ground since then demonstrates how poisonous the status quo is, and how desperately Israelis and Palestinians need a political agreement to separate into their own sovereign states.

The events of the past month have demonstrated how destructive the occupation is – destructive for both Palestinians and Israelis. While Palestinians are occupied by Israel, Israelis are occupied by the conflict and its violent impact on the Israeli public. Israelis and Palestinians do not have to continue living in this miserable anomaly, under occupation. And they know that the only way for long-lasting normalcy is the diplomatic path that leads to a two-state peace agreement.

The events of the past month make our path, our policy more relevant today than ever. Now, in the sixth week of our campaign to #ReclaimIsrael we provide you the resources that will help you to stay up to date with news as it breaks, to engage with and take action on the core issues at the center of the conflict, and to support the work so that together we can help Israel build a future of peace.

Here are the best ways to engage and take action, to stay up-to-date on what is happening, and to learn about the issues:

Read our landmark statement, "On the 47th Anniversary of the Occupation: Time for Hard Truths, Tough Actions"	Like us on Facebook   Follow us on Twitter
Don't miss out! To receive action alerts and other important news Sign up for APN Updates	Take action on important issues:
To keep up with what's going on, sign up for News Nosh: free, daily, news from Israeli sources Download Facts on the Ground: The APN Map Project	Book a Speaker: Make sure to check our events page regularly Please support us

Listen to our podcasts:

Jerusalem-based spokesperson of UNRWA, Christopher Gunness on the humanitarian situation in Gaza
Arnon Avni on living in a war zone

From the past six weeks:
Briefing call on West Bank settlements with Lior Amihai
Briefing call on Jerusalem with Danny Seidemann
Conversation with Brigadier General (Ret.) Shlomo Brom: Defensible borders
Briefing call with Israeli strategic affairs expert Yossi Alpher on the current crisis and its repercussions
Briefing call with Professor Matti Steinberg, an expert on Palestinian politics and political ideology APN interviews David Pollock of Washington Institute for Near East Policy on Palestinian and Israeli incitement.
APN Interviews Palestinian Intern Hamze Awawdeh

Go to the "Reclaiming Israel's Future" Campaign Homepage

Christopher Gunness, the Jerusalem-based spokesperson of UNRWA, the United Nations agency that serves Palestinian refugees, joined us on July 18 20014, less than 24 hours after Israel's ground campaign in the Gaza Strip started, to review the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the reconstruction challenge that faces the residents of the Gaza Strip and UNRWA.

APN's daily news review from Israel

Friday July 18, 2014
 

NOTE: Beginning today News Nosh on Fridays will be a truncated version.