APN's daily news review from Israel
Sunday August 25, 2013
Quote of the day:
"There's more than a pinch of irony in the fact that the Israeli regime, so supportive of suppressing the
Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, is led by the 'Jewish Brotherhood.'"
--Sefi Rachlevsky writes in Haaretz that Israelis need to let go of racist talk of the "nature" of Arabs and instead "see to the cultural
circumstances, to expand the humanity of each person to include as many as possible."**
APN's daily news review from Israel
Friday, August 23, 2013
Number of the day:
16 million.
Amount of shekels (=$4.5 million) the state will spend on developing a national park in the midst of the Arab E. Jerusalem neighborhood of
Silwan, known by some Jews as Ir David, the City of David.**
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Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are preparing to resume their peace talks Wednesday in Jerusalem.
Complex issues lie before them, according to Lara Friedman Director of Policy and Government Relations for
Americans for Peace Now. She spoke with VOA's Susan Yackee on August 14, 2013.
Cynicism about new Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts comes in a variety of flavors.
It is impossible for any thinking person to view yesterday's release of
Palestinian prisoners - and the planned release of more prisoners - with anything but very mixed feelings.
Anyone who recognizes that Israeli-Palestinian peace is vital for Israel's security and viability as a democracy and a Jewish state must welcome the release -- as a measure that can strengthen and give credibility to the new negotiating effort -- even as we feel compassion for those for whom these releases awaken terrible memories of heinous crimes committed against loved ones.
Since the start of the new Israeli-Palestinian peace effort backed by Secretary Kerry, it feels like every day has seen news about new settlement approvals, tenders, planning, benefits, etc. In truth, it hasn't been quite every day - but close to it. The settlement floodgates have been opened, and opened wide, especially in East Jerusalem. This timeline is intended not to provide comprehensive details of each new settlement-related development, but to track these developments across time and provide links to additional resources. Also, keep in mind that new developments can be viewed on the map through APN's "Facts on the Ground" Map App.
Americans for Peace Now (APN) today harshly condemned the government of Israel's recent actions to
move forward with new settlement approvals and tenders in both East Jerusalem and the West Bank. APN urged
President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry to engage vigorously to convince Netanyahu to roll back these
reckless, destructive decisions.
APN President and CEO Debra DeLee commented:
"Yesterday's announcement of tenders for 1200 new units in settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem was an extraordinary sign of contempt for President Abbas and for new U.S. special Middle East peace envoy Martin Indyk, who arrived in Israel this week to restart talks. It came on the heels of last week's outrageous news of a decision to press ahead with almost 900 new settlement units. Today's announcement of the approval of nearly 1000 additional settlement units in East Jerusalem appears to reflect nothing short of deliberate effort to extinguish any hopes of success for the Kerry-backed peace effort before the second round of talks even starts.
Anyone familiar with the history of Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking can be forgiven for viewing new Israeli-Palestinian negotiations with a certain degree of skepticism, in large part fueled by concern that settlements will, once again, be used to undermine the chances for achieving peace.