APN Weekly Update - Trump and the Middle East, Study Tour, Instagram, and more

Americans for Peace Now
Americans for Peace Now: November 15, 2016


"If you stop pedaling, you fall immediately. A vacuum here does not exist.

Dr. Husam Zomlot, PLO Ambassador to the United States during a meeting with the APN Study Tour group in Ramallah, talking about the need for action on behalf of a two-state solution. 


Hard Questions, Tough Answers with Yossi Alpher

 

Yossi Alpher is an independent security analyst. Views and positions expressed here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily represent APN's views and policy positions.

November 14, 2016 - Trump and the Middle East

Q. Everything we can say at this point about a Trump administration and the Middle East is tentative and speculative. So where do we start?

A. Let’s begin by asking where, if at all, the Middle East contributed to Trump’s election victory...

Q. Aren’t there additional contradictions in Trump’s Middle East policy positions?

A. The most glaring one concerns Russia, Iran and Syria...

Q. Couldn’t Trump’s demand that countries like Japan and South Korea and NATO members pay their own way in defense matters also affect Israel?

A. Absolutely. This is my personal near-term worst case scenario regarding President Trump...

Q. One of Trump’s first public policy statements since being elected is that he welcomes the challenge of ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Empty bluster or a serious commitment?

A. I’m skeptical...

Q. But isn’t Trump’s Republican, evangelical and militia-minded constituency committed to Israel’s security from a religious-ideological standpoint?

A. Yes, at the declarative level. But as we have seen, some potential policy directions appear to contradict this commitment...

Q. Some Middle East leaders, following the lead of Russia’s Putin and China’s Xi, openly celebrated Trump’s electoral victory on the assumption that this will reduce US pressures on their regimes regarding human rights issues.

A. Indeed...

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Settlement Watch

Ministerial Committee Approves Regulation Bill

Demonstrating outside of the home of Naftali Bennett, the head of the Jewish Home party,  against the "Regulation Bill" (Peace Now Director Avi Buskila is in the dark shirt).

The "Regulation Bill" seeks to retroactively legalize illegal West Bank outposts built on private Palestinian lands.

Peace Now: "...the government made theft a part of its official policy and took another step on the way towards a one state reality. Such action is contrary to international law, Jewish values and basic common sense, and was even deemed unconstitutional by the Attorney General."

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APN Israel Study Tour

APN Study Tour now in Israel

Top left: Peace Now's Hagit Ofran with group on Jerusalem's Mount of Olives; Top right: The elder Tibbon, Maj. General (ret.) Noam Tibbone, spoke about security needs with Gaza directly behind him. Bottom: The only "bombproof playground" is in Sderet, Israel near Gaza. On the left is the outside of the play structure/shelter, and on the right is a view from the inside.

The group has been immersed in meetings and travel to areas of significance to the conflict and its resolution. So far, the experiences have included meetings with the US Consul General in Jerusalem, the PLO Ambassador to the US in Ramallah, and a powerful experience at Kibbutz Nahal Oz, right on the border with Gaza.

Go HERE to see pictures.


APN's Instagram highlights the Israel Study Tour

If you are not a follower of APN on Instagram, make sure to do so which has lately been highlighting the current Israel Study Tour.

Go HERE to see and follow APN.

 


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