This story by Oren Cohen, the former Palestinian affairs correspondent of the daily newspaper Hadashot, is a part of APN’s Virtual Dove series, a collection of stories told by practitioners in the field of Israeli-Palestinian relations, stories that highlight the human and the humanity in the conflict.
1. Bills, Resolutions, & Letters
2.
Hearings
3. On the Record
Produced by the Foundation for Middle East Peace in cooperation with Americans for Peace Now, where the Legislative Round-Up was conceived. Views and positions expressed here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily represent APN's views and policy positions.
Thursday June 18, 2020
Quote of the day:"It's called apartheid via salami tactics."
--Former Meretz Chairwoman Zahava
Galon said of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's 'annexation in stages' proposal.*
APN and fellow members of the Progressive Israel Network have sent the letter below to Alternate Prime Minister Gantz and Foreign Minister Ashkenazi, urging action to stop Israeli annexation in the West Bank.
APN's daily news review from Israel - Wednesday June 17, 2020
Quotes of the Day:
“The court is sending a clear message to law enforcement authorities today that there is no longer a basis
for the many years of immunity that the state has granted to the heads of the settlement movement, who have done in
the settlements whatever they have felt like, in violation of the law, and all of this to create facts on the
ground that affect the future of all of Israel. We hope that the message is heard and that they finally a stop is
put to the lawlessness in the settlements and outposts.”
--Peace Now responds after court orders the State to explain its failure to investigate illegal construction in
West Bank settlement.*
"Fifty-three years of occupation since the Six Day War have fundamentally changed Israel. After more than
40 years of right-wing rule, Israelis identify and are identified more with ruling whites than with oppressed
Blacks. Ethnocentrism, Jewish fundamentalism and hostility towards Palestinians, it seems, have spawned blatant
racism towards minorities in general, as Israel’s own black minority of Ethiopian Jews can attest."
--Haaretz+ commentator Chemi Shalev writes about why Israelis backed the civil rights movement in America, but
don't back the Black Lives Matter movement**
"Supporters of annexation want to strengthen Israel by reducing danger. They are trying to get rid of a
chronic illness that we have been living with for more than 50 years, but the problem is that the medicine they
offer could kill the patient, that is, the State of the Jewish people."
—Sallai Meridor, former Israeli ambassador to the US, former Jewish Agency chairman and a present-day settler,
shares his view on annexation.***
APN's daily news review from Israel - Tuesday June 16, 2020
Quote of the day:
"He's not here."
-- The answer Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu received when he called to speak with King Abdullah of
Jordan about Israel's intention to annex 30% of the West Bank.*
With the blessing -- indeed the urging -- of Donald Trump’s White House, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in the midst of preparations to annex vast swaths of the West Bank. A joint committee, manned by representatives of Netanyahu and Trump, and headed by Trump’s ambassador to Israel David Friedman, is working on a detailed map delineating the territory – as much as 30% of the West Bank – that Israel will claim as its own.
A group of members of the House of Representatives is signing a letter (click HERE to read the letter) to Prime Minister Netanyahu and his ministers of defense and foreign affairs urging them to reconsider this destructive measure.
Sign-On Letter Concerning Potential Annexation of the West Bank
To: Prime Minister Netanyahu, Alternate Prime Minister and Defense Minister Gantz, Foreign Minister Ashkenazi
We write as American lawmakers who are long-time supporters, based on our shared democratic values and strategic interests, of Israel and the U.S.-Israel relationship. We firmly believe in, and advocate for, a strong and secure Jewish and democratic State of Israel, a state able to build upon current peace treaties and expand cooperation with regional players and the international community. We have consistently endorsed the pursuit of a negotiated peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians resulting in two states for two peoples and a brighter future for the Israeli people and the Palestinian people. In that vein, we write today to express our deep concern that the push for unilateral annexation of territory in the West Bank after July 1st will make these goals harder to achieve.
