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 why, even though Israel has a peace treaty with Caiso, but no formal ties with Riyadh, Israel offered its blessing for a deal that affects a vital naval passage that has triggered war in the recent past; explains the timing of Sunday's declaration by Netanyahu’s government whence they met on the Golan Heights and the prime minister declared that the Golan would always remain a sovereign part of Israel; connects the regional conflict situations of the ceasefire in Syria, which appears to be ending, Yemen, where there is optimism regarding a ceasefire, and Ngorno Karabach (an enclave disputed between Armenia and Azerbaijan) where renewed fighting has broken out; and why, now 15 years after his assassination by Palestinians and 11 years after he was declared a national hero to be memorialized annually in school ceremonies, far-right-wing Major General Rehavam Zeevi (“Gandhi”) is accused of having been a serial rapist and sexual harasser and having consorted with gangsters.

Peace Now’s Settlement Watch project reported this week that Benjamin Netanyahu’s government approved construction of hundreds of new homes in West Bank settlements, and is accelerating the pace of planned building in the settlements. Peace Now’s data was based on info obtained from the High Planning Council for Judea and Samaria, the government agency responsible for construction licensing and planning in West Bank settlements. The data showed that this year’s numbers (January through March) were higher than the equivalent period last year.

Yossi Alpher is an Israeli Security expert. He writes “Hard Questions, Tough Answers”, a weekly Q&A for Americans for Peace Now. Yossi Alpher served in the Israel Defense Forces as an Intelligence officer, followed by 12 years in the Mossad. He was associated with the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies (JCSS) at Tel Aviv University, ultimately serving as its Director. Since 1992 he has coordinated several track II dialogues between Israelis and Arabs and during the 2000 Camp David Summit, Alpher served as Special Adviser to Israeli PM Ehud Barak. He has written three books: And The Wolf Shall Dwell With The Wolf: the Settlers and the Palestinians in 2001, PERIPHERY: Israel’s Search for Middle East Allies in 2015, and his most recent book, published this year, is No End of Conflict: Rethinking Israel-Palestine.

Yossi Alpher to speak at APN event June 26th

PASSOVER - Questioning Reassessing And Looking for Answers...

 Read Yossi Alpher's weekly column, Hard Questions, Tough Answers, a security perspective on Middle East Affairs

Read a review of Yossi Alpher's last book Periphery: Israel’s Search for Middle East Allies

A Passover message from Yossi Alpher, 2015.

Listen: Israeli Elections, Initial Analysis with Yossi Alpher, March 2015

Listen: The crisis in the US-led Israeli-Palestinian negotiations process, April 2014

Bitter Lemons, an archive of the Bitter Lemons publications

Yossi Alpher in The Forward

UNCOVERING ISRAEL, INSIDE AND OUT 
With Member of Knesset Merav Michaeli (Zionist Union)

Israeli Knesset Member Merav Michaely of the Zionist Union was a guest speaker on Thursday, April 14, 2016 at an event co-sponsored by the New Israel Fund and Americans for Peace Now. MK Michaeli spoke about the challenges that progressive Israelis face, both on security and foreign affairs questions and on domestic affairs.

One of Israel’s foremost protectors of democracy, Zionist Union MK Merav Michaeli is a voice of reason, justice, and passion for human rights. Click here to watch Merav’s brief but stirring analysis of the aftermath of the recent Hebron shooting, which has dominated Israel’s public discourse in recent days.