Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem
Sunday, March 29 at 2:00 PM
Rabbi Alana Suskin spoke about the prospects for peace following Israel's elections, the work of Peace Now in Israel and what the challenges are at this time, and what, as American Jews, our role can be in helping Israel achieve peace and security with her neighbors
APN's daily news review from Israel
Friday March 27, 2015
Quote of the day:
"I frankly do not know if it is already too late."
--Outgoing Middle East Envoy Robert Serry calls on the UN Security Council to intervene to restart
Israeli-Palestinian negotiations for a two-state solution.**
This week the Senate is dealing with S. Con. Res. 11. "An original concurrent resolution setting forth the congressional budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2016 and setting forth the appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2017 through 2025." This annual exercise is nicknamed a “vote-a-rama,” with members permitted to offer as many amendments as they like on pretty much any topic, so long as they append the magic words at the end of every amendment: “provided that such legislation would not increase the deficit over either the period of the total of fiscal years 2016 through 2020 or the period of the total of fiscal years 2016 through 2025.”
In past years, we have not seen a lot of Middle East provisions offered to the annual budget resolution – possibly because Senators prefer to attach Middle East-related amendments to binding, must-pass legislation like the Foreign Operations Appropriations bill, or the Defense Authorization bill; or because there were stricter rules governing amendments; or just maybe because at no time in recent memory has the Senate (or some of its members) behaved in such a reckless and at times nutty-as-a squirrel-turd manner as is the case today.
In this context, it comes as no surprise to see lots of Middle East-related amendments being offered to S. Con. Res. 11. Below is a summary of these amendments – it will be updated if more are submitted. It should be kept in mind that some/most/all of these may never be voted on and that in any case, they are non-binding; however, they are important nonetheless as statements of congressional intent and as efforts to corner members into taking a more consequential vote on binding legislation later.
APN's Ori Nir will be speaking on a panel discussion with Gabriel Scheinmann at Goucher Hillel, 7pm on March 25th
There were only a handful of Israeli settlers beyond the Green Line in 1968, when Lyndon Johnson
became the first American president to express opposition to settlements in the West Bank. Now, despite protest
from every subsequent administration, there are more than 350,000 Israelis living in the West Bank and 200,000
in East Jerusalem. President Johnson’s prediction that settlements would “prejudice a peace settlement” has come
true, as the dramatic rise of the settler movement—in both numbers and political power—has complicated repeated
efforts to achieve a two-state solution.
In this panel at J Street's 2015 conference, APN's Lara Friedman, together with other experts on American and European policy explored what steps can be taken to halt further settlement growth and entrenchment, and discuss the political and policy implications of American and European initiatives—from discouragement of Israeli settlement subsidies to the labeling or boycott of settlement goods.
Watch to see Lara Friedman, together with Michael Cohen of the Boston Globe and Alon Sachar of the US State Department, with Steve Krubiner, J Street's Chief of staff, moderating. Aviva Meyer, Deputy Chair of APN, introduces the participants. Session begins at 10:35.
