Produced by the Foundation for Middle East Peace in cooperation with Americans for Peace Now, where the Legislative Round-Up was conceived
1. Bills, Resolutions & Letters
2. FY17 Consolidated Appropriations: Middle East-Related Provisions
3. Hearings
4. On the Record
APN's daily news review from Israel
Thursday May 4, 2017
In his meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas today, President Trump vowed to work with the leaders of Israel and the Palestinians to broker peace. "We will get this done," Trump declared.
On May 2 2017, APN held a briefing call with Shibley Telhami, an expert on Palestinian politics
and on U.S. Middle East policy, to discuss Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ white House meeting with
President Trump.
Professor Telhami is the Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland, College Park, and non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. He is the author of The World through Arab Eyes: Arab Public Opinion and the Reshaping of the Middle East, the co-editor of The Peace Puzzle: America’s Quest for Arab-Israeli Peace, 1989-2011, and a leading pollster of public opinion in the Middle East and U.S. public opinion about the region.
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.
This week, Alpher discusses rising tensions with Syria; the outlook on Trump's upcoming meeting with Abbas and trip to Israel; whether Abbas or Netanyahu are in a position to "deal"; possible ramifications of Germany's increasing pressure on Israel; tension between Israel and North Korea; and celebrating Israel's Independence Day in light of the present mood.
On a recent visit to the doctor's office, the nurse asked me if I have recently felt depressed or hopeless. I paused and pondered the impact that developments in both Jerusalem and Washington have had on me. The nurse noticed my hesitation and said, "Oh, it's routine, sir. We are required to ask every patient about their emotional state." I had to think. How do you honestly reply without being sent to the psychiatric ward… Well, I said, "Hopeless? No, definitely not hopeless."
It's not hopeless. Not at all. Had I thought it was hopeless, I would have found something else to do.
Particularly today, perhaps more than any other day on the calendar, it’s important to keep this sense of proportions.
