APN's daily news review from Israel - Wednesday December 9, 2020 

Quotes of the day:

"Allowing Israel to arbitrate on land rights in the West Bank is like asking Tony Soprano to adjudicate all the financial disputes in New Jersey."
-- Attorney Michael Sfard writes about why the Knesset's attempt to approve Israel administrating land registration in the West Bank must be stopped.*

“They are brainwashed people on the dark side. We will show them the light."
--Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, the Emirati businessman who bought 50% of the Beitar Jerusalem soccer team, plans to turn the team's infamously right-wing anti-Arab racist fans from 'brain-washed' into believers in co-existence.**

Audio recording of the APN Webinar from December 9, 2020 - LISTEN

Dr. Hanan Ashrawi

Palestinian leader, legislator, activist, and scholar

Dr. Ashrawi discussed the Palestinian perspective on the Trump to Biden transition, and examined the state of US-Palestinian relations after Donald Trump’s four years in the White House, the Palestinian leadership’s efforts to push the reset button on the relationship as President-elect Biden prepares to enter the Oval Office next month, and the Palestinian expectations from the Biden administration. 

Dr. Ashrawi has recently resigned after long serving as a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization. She has held official positions with the Palestinian Authority, was a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, and founded the Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights (MIFTAH). She is considered one of the most compelling spokespeople for the Palestinian national cause.

LISTEN

APN's daily news review from Israel - Tuesday December 8, 2020

Quote of the day:

“There is an educational lesson in this story – if a high school in Haifa is unable to bear an hour of dialogue on human rights, the students and parents would be better off to reflect on how Palestinians spent 53 years without human rights.”
--B’Tselem director, Hagai El-Ad, said after the renowned Re'ali High School in Haifa cancelled his lecture about human rights to be held today marking International Human Rights Day.*

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In response to a series of actions taken by the Netanyahu-Gantz government in recent weeks, including home demolitions, forced evictions and new settlement approvals in Givat Hamatos and E-1 meant to secure “facts on the ground” and prevent the successful pursuit of a two-state future for Israelis and Palestinians, the Progressive Israel Network, in which APN is a member, issued the following statement:

We are alarmed by the recent set of moves by the government of Israel to initiate settlement projects and take other provocative and harmful actions in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, including home demolitions and forced evictions, which further damage the possibility of a negotiated future two-state solution. It is clear that the Netanyahu government is trying to exploit the outgoing Trump Administration’s wholehearted embrace of Israel’s settlement enterprise in order to further erase the distinction between Israel and the territory it occupies. The recent announcement of the Israeli government’s approval of tenders for new construction in the planned settlement of Givat Hamatos and statutory approval for the construction of E-1 are particularly harmful. These settlement projects have the strategic objective of cutting off Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem from the West Bank city of Bethlehem, seriously undermining the prospects of establishing a contiguous Palestinian state alongside Israel. 

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.

We are at an inflection point in the U.S.-Israel relationship.

With our elections over and Israel’s once again looming in the near future, there is an opportunity for a shift. Not just because elections always offer a chance for change, but because we have an incoming U.S. President who understands the nuances and challenges of the relationship we have with Israel. Moreover, he sees the American role not as an advocate for the settler’s movement and a Greater Israel, but as an honest broker helping Israelis and Palestinians walk the path toward peace.

On and off for nearly 25 years, we have been faced with an Israeli leader who has shown himself to be neither a friend to democracy nor a partner for peace. We have struggled to keep our hope alive, to believe that there is a road to negotiations and a better future despite the fact that Israel has maintained its 50+ year occupation, vastly expanded settlements, passed laws to codify discrimination against non-Jewish citizens, and done its best to marginalize and even criminalize the peace movement.

Americans for Peace Now – comprised of tens of thousands of Americans who, like you and me, believe in a peaceful future, has been envisioning that better future for nearly 40 years. Forty years of standing up for the very essence of what makes a successful democracy and a thriving society. Forty years of struggling through botched negotiations, hopes rising and dashed, over and over again. Forty years of dreaming of a life of dignity and peace for both Israelis and Palestinians.

We may be the dreamers, but, as John Lennon once reminded us, we’re not the only ones. Our friends and family in Israel and Palestine dream of peace, as well. And, while it has been a long 40 years, we cannot step away. Peace may be another decade down the road. Or, it may be around the corner. It is up to us to keep the flame burning, should the moment arrive.

APN's daily news review from Israel - Monday December 7, 2020

Quote of the day:

"We wanted to see the reactions of the (Jewish) citizens. Everyone came to be photographed with us."
--Hamada Odeh, an Arab-Israel from the town of Kafr Qassem, who pranked Jewish Israelis in Tel-Aviv with his friends by dressing up like Gulf Arabs to see how they would react.*