Israeli strategic affairs expert Yossi Alpher, the author of APN's Hard Questions, Tough Answers, was our guest on an April 8 briefing call, mainly focusing on the crisis in the US-led Israeli-Palestinian negotiations process.

APN's daily news review from Israel

Tuesday April 08, 2014
 

Quote of the day:

"Can you imagine revoking the citizenship of a Jew? Did you revoke the citizenship of Yitzhak Rabin's murderer?"
--Arab MK Ahmed Tibi lashed out at government for suggesting revoking the citizenship of Israeli Arabs meant to be released in Palestinian prisoner deal.**

Esmat Mansour, who helped 3 older teens stab an Israeli man to death in 1993, was freed in August 2013 in the first of the prisoner releases.

by AP

Facing a classroom of Palestinian 10th graders, Hebrew teacher Esmat Mansour asks his students who is for and against learning the language. A few raise their hands in favor, others against and he asks both sides to explain.

Mansour believes such debates will help motivate young Palestinians to study Israel's dominant language. They need to know Hebrew to be able to deal with "the Israeli occupiers," but also to build bridges in the future, he says.

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We must not allow the messianisms of the religious right cloud the call from our greatest religious authorities to return the territories, for the sake of saving life.

By Rabbi Daniel Landes

For the religious Zionist Jew who wishes to grasp Israel’s present situation in a rational way, the hardest act is to shake off the messianisms that envelop his society - ranging from overt and imminent “end-time” scenarios, to the hazy metaphor of the “beginning of the dawn of our salvation”.

What they share and engender is an optimistic feeling of ultimate victory and security. We are assured that the Jews’ political failure and physical catastrophe is as finished as the Galut (Exile). But in the actual psyche of the religious Zionist, the persistently suppressed horror of that past repeating itself propels us further - into a delusional messianism that needs to be coupled to a secular rightwing ideology promising salvation by standing ‘strong’ and ‘proud’, that is confirmed by our increasing isolation.

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This week, Alpher discusses the flurry of obstructive peace process-related events of the past week, what derailed the process, and what could save it; the broader international situation; more basic or strategic factors informing the crisis; how serious the immediate damage is and how all this affects Israeli politics.

APN's daily news review from Israel

Monday April 07, 2014
 

Quote of the day:

"This will put Shfaram and the rest of the communities on the map."
--Shfaram mayor Amin Anabtawi is thrilled that Israel will finally give his town and other Arab and Druze towns in Israel street names and house numbers and street signs.**

APN's daily news review from Israel

Sunday April 06, 2014
 

Quote of the day:

"I came to be with them, to condemn the acts and actions (of) terrorists who try to harm the innocent. We will not let this carry on."
--Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich visited the Arab village of Gush Halav, Jish, in the Western Galilee, where the tires of 40 cars were punctured and hate graffiti was sprayed, ostensibly by Jewish citizens.**

Time.com (AP story), 2 April, 2014
Peace Now: Israel to build more in East Jerusalem
http://time.com/46548/watchdog-israel-moving-forward-with-east-jerusalem-construction/

Associated Press, 2 April 2014
Peace Now: Israeli commitment to "restrain" settlement planning would be meaningless because so much construction is under way
http://www.seattlepi.com/news/world/article/Palestinians-We-don-t-want-Kerry-mission-to-fail-5369204.php

AFP, 1 April 2014
Peace Now: Israeli government reissues tenders for East Jerusalem settler homes
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/140401/israel-reissues-tenders-e-jerusalem-settler-homes

Voice of Russia (AFP story), 1 April, 2014
Israel reissues tenders for East Jerusalem settler homes
http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_04_01/Israel-reissues-tenders-for-E-Jerusalem-settler-homes-NGO-3385/

Huffington Post, 31 March, 2014
ATFP Youth Outreach Coordinator writes about her organization's partnership with APN
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tala-haikal/youth-factor-the-missing-_b_5064632.html

Jerusalem Post, 31 March 2014
Peace Now's Yariv Oppenheimer: Livni and Lapid parties will have to leave coalition if negotiations fail
http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Left-vows-Well-pressure-Livni-to-quit-if-talks-fail-346982

Haaretz, 30 March, 2014
APN's Lara Friedman op-ed: What Israeli-Palestinian mutual recognition really means
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.582833

APN's daily news review from Israel

Friday April 04, 2014
 

Quote of the day:

"Our goal now is to stop everything - we are hardening our positions and then we will start from the beginning." 
--An Israeli official tells Yedioth that Israel's strategy is sanctions against the Palestinians in order to get them to stop their UN bids - and get back to the negotiating table.**