On April 1, 2015, Lara Friedman (Director of Policy and Government Relations) participated at the "Israel-Palestine Peace Month" event at Roanoke College. After speaking to a class about the lessons of Passover apply to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Friedman addressed a gathering of over fifty students, faculty, and community members about settlements, the occupation, and the potential for a new U.S. approach to achieving a two-state solution.
This week, a key Senate committee passed S. 615 – with bipartisan support and the approval of the White House – giving Congress enhanced oversight over any nuclear deal with Iran. That bill is expected to pass quickly into law.
It is urgent that you act TODAY.
Ernest Moniz is U.S. energy secretary.
The recent announcement of the Lausanne framework concerning Iran’s nuclear program has stimulated a lively public and political debate. This is an important discussion that the nation deserves to have, and it must be informed by clarity on the specifics of the negotiated technical parameters for a final Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
I joined Secretary of State John F. Kerry’s negotiating team in late February, but throughout the negotiations, leading nuclear experts at the Energy Department and its national labs have been involved in the careful development and thorough evaluation of the technical proposals to help define U.S. positions.
As a result, the key parameters for the agreement that was announced April 2 in Switzerland provide a technically sound path for certifying Iran’s nuclear program as peaceful, quickly determining if it is not and providing the breathing room needed to respond appropriately.
In the lead-up to this year’s Passover holiday, Americans for Peace Now launched a Facebook meme campaign inspired by the words of Peace Now co-founder Galia Golan. We asked that Jews who care about Israel spill some wine in acknowledgement of Israel’s “modern-day plagues”, as is traditionally done during the Seder when reading the ten plagues of Egypt.
The first modern-day plague, “continued settlement building,” was chosen because of the degree to which Israeli settlement expansion damages prospects for peace. The growth of settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem threatens to eliminate the possibility of a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians – the only solution that can secure Israel’s future as a democracy and a Jewish state.
This week, Alpher discusses how religious and tribal wars in Iraq, Syria, Egyptian Sinai, Yemen and Libya, and Obama and Netanyahu being at loggerheads over the Iran nuclear deal affects the Palestinian issue; how these events serve as a legitimate distraction, including the current fighting in the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp on the outskirts of Damascus; how they serve as an excuse for Israel to do nothing on the Palestinian issue; what is Qatar doing that should command our interest, including the Gaza aspect; why, despite these tensions, the IDF is facilitating the expansion of PA security forces’ area of responsibility; and April genocide memorials of the HOlocaust and the Armenian genocide, and the exploitation of Israeli fears.
