APN's daily news review from Israel - Tuesday May 11, 2021

Quote of the day:

"Jerusalem Day is a national day of mourning. It’s the day when Israeli society marks the conquest of East Jerusalem. Not its liberation. Not its unification with the western part of the city. Not its freedom. The Palestinians living in Silwan, Sheikh Jarrah and Shoafat did not go from slavery to freedom at the end of the Six-Day War. They, along with all of East Jerusalem, were conquered and...have been living under a violent occupation that deprives, excludes and humiliates them."
--Rogel Alpher writes in Haaretz about the meaning of Jerusalem Day, which right-wing religious Jews attempted to celebrate yesterday, but for once, were thwarted.*

As violence in Jerusalem triggers hostilities across Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip, Americans for Peace Now (APN) urges all the parties and stakeholders to take action to prevent further bloodshed and to stop the escalation toward war.

The steep escalation of the past weeks requires responsible leadership in the short term, and underscores the need for renewed US-led Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic engagement to end the occupation and advance peace efforts. Recent developments again demonstrate that the current situation is not viable and requires immediate attention.
The Biden Administration may not have wanted to prioritize Israel/Palestine. They may have hoped to maintain the status quo. But the status quo is no more, and looking away does not make this crisis go away.

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.

 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. Hearings & Markups
3. On the Record

Shameless plugs:

• This week: In the midst of the rapidly escalating situation in Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah – where Palestinians are on the verge of being evicted from the homes and their protests are being met with ever-greater force by Israeli authorities and by settlers, on 5/6, FMEP held a webinar entitled, “Jerusalem on the Verge: Dispossession & Violence in Sheikh Jarrah.” Panelists were Aseel AlBajeh, a legal researcher and advocacy officer at Al Haq, and Budour Hassan,author and journalist, in conversation with FMEP’s Lara Friedman (me). Video and resources shared during the webinar are here.
• Next week: On May 10th, FMEP is proud to cosponsor an online event – The Palestinian Nakba: What Happened in 1948 and Why It Still Matters, featuring Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Umar Al-Ghubari (Program director, Zochrot), Rashid Khalidi (Professor, Columbia University), Mohammed El-Kurd (Author and Poet), and Lubnah Shomali (Advocacy manager, BADIL). This event is organized/hosted by the Middle East Institute and Project48, and cosponsored by FMEP, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the Institute for Palestine Studies. It will be moderated by MEI’s Nooran Alhamdan & Khaled Elgindy.
• Also next week: FMEP is hosting a webinar entitled, “The PLO & the Palestinian Diaspora: Reviving a Source of Power,” featuring the co-authors of a recent landmark report on this topic — Zaha Hassan (Carnegie Endowment for Peace), Nadia Hijab (Al Shabaka), and Inès Abdel Razek (Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy) – in conversations with Sarah Anne Minkin (FMEP)

Produced by the Foundation for Middle East Peace in cooperation with Americans for Peace Now, where the Legislative Round-Up was conceived. Views and positions expressed here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily represent APN's views and policy positions.

Update: this action, now closed, ran from May 7-10, 2021. 

Monday is Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem Day. This city, sacred to billions of people across the globe, is not only the spiritual center of multiple religions. It is also the home of real people.  Families, men, women and children. Jewish and Muslim. Israeli and Palestinian. And this city is in crisis.

In Sheikh Jarrah, in Silwan, Palestinian families are being forcibly evicted from their homes, only to be replaced by Israeli settlers. This crisis has been building for a long time. Our colleagues at Shalom Achshav have been on the ground fighting against this, and we here in the US have been pushing for our government to speak up and take action. 

Today members of Congress, led by Representatives Marie Newman and Mark Pocan, are urging Secretary of State Tony Blinken and the Biden Administration to do just that. 

See the full text of the letter here.

Members of Congress need to speak up and to push the Administration to act before it is too late. And they need to hear from you. 

APN's daily news review from Israel - Thursday May 6, 2021
 

Quote of the day:

“Sadly, despite Israel’s image as a state that maintains a proper and professional legal system, the reality paints a different picture – harsh, discriminatory, and outrageous."
--180 Israeli intellectuals and scientists warn the International Criminal Court at The Hague not to rely on Israel to probe war crimes against the Palestinians, accusing the Israeli enforcement and security agencies of allowing ongoing acts of moral injustice and prima facie war crimes.*

Breaking News:
Two days after an Israeli attack in Syria, an Israeli helicopter hits Hezbollah outpost in Syrian Golan (Israel Hayom, Ynet, Maariv and Haaretz+)

APN's daily news review from Israel - Wednesday May 5, 2021

Quote of the day:

"More than 80% of Arab society is Muslim, and the Druze and Christian minorities also respect the month of Ramadan and recognize it as part of the collective Arab culture. But it’s not known among the Jews. Why is this information not taught in the education system? Why does a child who grew up in the country alongside us not know what we do?"
--Saja Khilani writes in Ynet Hebrew.*

Breaking News:
Israel Struck Near Latakia Overnight, Syria TV Reports
Israeli missiles targeted Haffeh and Masyaf and struck a civilian plastic warehouse among other locations, state TV says. (Haaretz)

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.