An article written by APN's Ori Nir, published in today's edition of the Boston Globe, reminds us that the realistic attitude -one endorsed by all six of the most recent leaders of Israel’s General Security Service (Shin Bet) - is the one that advocates a two-state solution.

Americans for Peace Now works to advance Arab-Israeli peace and to highlight that such peace is not only necessary, but also possible. Support APN's message of peace and a two-state solution.

The prospect of a U.N. Security Council vote on parameters and a timeline for Israel-Palestinian negotiations, coming as it does in the lead-up to Israeli elections, is eliciting this tricky argument: “We can’t pressure Israel when Israelis are going to the polls, because it will only help the Right.”

That argument fits neatly into the list of memes that time and time again have been used to justify U.S. inaction in the Israeli-Palestinian arena. Memes like: “We can’t press for peace with the region in upheaval.” “We can’t ask any Israeli prime minister to take action that could destabilize his government.” “This is a losing issue that will cost any president and his party dearly.”

Ahead of the 2015 elections, American Jews should influence Israel's future character – not through their pocketbooks, but by asserting their vision of how a Jewish, democratic state should look.

For American Jews who care about Israel’s future as a democracy, as a Jewish nation-state that champions Jewish values, as a Jewish homeland they can be proud of, Israel’s early elections are a call for action.

The next 96 days leading up to the March 17 elections offer American Jews a rare opportunity to influence Israel's future character – not through their pocketbooks, but by asserting their vision of what a Jewish, democratic state should look like.

Violence, incitement and racist hatred don’t just increasingly plague Israel. Palestinian society is just as sick – and unlike Israel, lacks a leader voicing genuine self-criticism.

The despicable violence, incitement, racism and hatred that are plaguing Israelis and Palestinians these days demonstrate just how sick both societies are - yes, both – and how desperately they need to separate from each other into two independent states.

Four ultra-Orthodox Jews at prayer and one Druze policeman, murdered by two Palestinian young men armed with knives, axes and a gun. The heart grieves for the families of the victims and the suffering of the injured.

This past week’s slaughter was the latest development in an escalation of violence in Jerusalem that dates back to the summer, with the kidnapping and murder of three Israel youth in the West Bank, followed by the kidnapping and murder of a Palestinian teen in East Jerusalem. Most of the world ignored the fires burning in East Jerusalem until the flames spread across the Green Line. Two terrorist attacks on the city’s light rail, one attempted assassination of a right-wing activist, several attacks outside Jerusalem, and a horrific synagogue massacre later, the world has woken up to what is turning into a conflagration that threatens to engulf the entire city and beyond.

The underlying cause of the current crisis is to be found in the inherent dysfunctionality of Israeli rule in East Jerusalem

WHAT POSSESSES hundreds, sometimes thousands of Palestinian youths to clash nightly with Israeli police? That is a question that official Israel, and most particularly Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has neither asked nor answered. Why? Because doing so would challenge his axiomatic faith in “united Jerusalem” – a Jerusalem that doesn’t exist.

...Keep the status quo

By tradition, the binding of Isaac – the Akedah – which occurs in this week’s Torah portion, is held to have taken place on the site known today as the Temple Mount. During the last few days, as tensions in Jerusalem reached new heights over the Temple Mount, I have been reading the portion and thinking about the meaning the Temple Mount has for Jews – and about how sad it is that, rather than respecting it as a place of peace, sacred to both Muslims and Jews, extremists on both sides choose this site to fan the flames of holy war.

Despite the Republican win, U.S. policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict over the next two years depends first and foremost on President Obama, not Congress. But will he finally stand up to Netanyahu?

Tuesday's election delivered the Senate into Republican hands and gave them the largest House majority in 80 years. What impact will this election have on America’s policy vis-à-vis Israel and the quest for Israeli-Palestinian peace?

 This piece will be featured in the Nov. 3 print edition of The Boston Globe.

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon has come to epitomize the Israeli school of thought that dismisses peace with the Palestinians as being not only impossible but undesirable.

Ya’alon laid out his worldview last week during a four-day visit to the United States. He has become the most salient spokesperson for those in Israel who think that the only way for Israel to conduct its relations with its neighbors is through periodic wars and counterterrorism campaigns, referred to in Israeli security jargon as “mowing the lawn.” In short, he believes in conflict management rather than conflict resolution.

Jay Michaelson has it wrong. AIPAC is not, as he argues, anti-Israel.

Most of what the lobby does is focused on strengthening the bond between the United States and Israel — various aspects of this relationship, including the U.S.-Israel security cooperation — which is undisputedly pro-Israel.

But not only AIPAC. All American Jewish organizations that focus on Israel, including the ones on the extreme right, are pro-Israel. They support Israel, and they do so wholeheartedly. They care deeply about Israel, and they are deeply concerned about its future.