During his term as US ambassador to Israel between 2001 and 2005, Daniel (Dan) Kurtzer spent time trying (and failing) to devise ground rules for limiting West Bank settlement construction. His efforts, at the time, were to minimize Israeli facts on the ground of the West Bank in order to maximize prospects for a two-state Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.

Donald Trump’s Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, in contrast, will represent the United States on a joint US-Israeli committee that will  help the Israeli government create the most consequential facts on the ground of the West Bank since Israel captured it in 1967: defining the areas in the West Bank that will be annexed by Israel.

Ambassador Kurtzer, who today is a professor at Princeton University is the guest of this episode.

Listen to the full episode

Last year I wrote a Peace Parsha for Tu B'Shevat in which I asked: When did we go from being a people who plant trees to a people who cut them down?

I didn't mean ordinary every-day Jews who go about their business without thinking much about trees. Or ordinary Jewish Israelis who have a long tradition of planting and caring for trees. The Torah commands us to refrain from picking fruit from trees until they are three years old. When we go to war against another people, we are commanded to leave fruit-bearing trees intact to ensure a source of food.

No, I'm talking about Israeli Jewish settlers in the West Bank -- the occupied territories -- who have weaponized Palestinian trees. Ironically, the trees they burn and cut down are olive trees -- the very symbol of peace. But these Jews aren't making peace. They're waging an undeclared war against the Palestinians by destroying their livelihood, their labor, their identity, and their humanity. It's the purposeful destruction of their hopes, and the message is clear: "Palestinians not wanted here."

Go HERE to view and download Peace Now's map of the Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Go HERE for an interactive map of the settlements

 You Must Be Kidding: 

Thirty seven years ago, on February 10^th 1983, Peace Now activist Emil Grunzweig was murdered by an extreme right Jewish terrorist at a Peace Now demonstration in Jerusalem.

Not far from the Prime Minister’s Office, the terrorist, Yona Avrushmi,  lobbed a hand grenade at the front row of the Peace Now marchers. It killed Emil and injured nine of his friends.

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.