Produced by the Foundation for Middle East Peace in cooperation with Americans for Peace Now, where the Legislative Round-Up was conceived
Choosing fear removes "us" from the equation and makes us live in a way where there is no choice
but endless war and occupation, and continual settlement building where this all becomes a fait
accompli. Hope, on the other hand, puts "us" back into the equation, believing that Israelis can build
a secure home for themselves, living in peace with their neighbors.
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Ha'aretz: "Democrats With Eye on White House Increasingly Willing to Bash Bibi While Supporting Israel" (June 7, 2019)Debra Shushan, director of policy at American for Peace Now, told Haaretz that "Democratic presidential candidates are getting the memo: While likely voters in the Democratic presidential primaries continue to support Israel, they disapprove of Prime Minister Netanyahu and his anti-peace, pro-occupation policies..." Read >> |
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Canadian Jewish News: "Shaqued Morag: You can love Israel and criticize it" (June 3, 2019)Shaqued Morag is the executive director of Peace Now...The CJN spoke with her on May 17 in Toronto. Read >> |
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Al Monitor: "Contradictory moves to rescue Palestinian economy" (May 24, 2019)Ori Nir, spokesman of Americans for Peace Now, told Al-Monitor that the Trump administration's approach brings the conflict back to the 1970s and 1980s... Read >> |
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.
A month after it was sworn in, Israel’s Knesset voted to
dissolve itself and drag the Israeli public into another election cycle.
What will this campaign look like? How much of an appetite does the Israeli public have for another round? Do the new elections provide a second chance for Benjamin Netanyahu’s opposition to depose him? How realistic is such a scenario? Will the right more effectively coalesce to come out stronger? And how about the left -- will it unite? Will the Arab parties re-unite?
Allison Kaplan Sommer of Israel’s Haaretz daily addressed these and other questions at a briefing call on June 6th .
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.
