This week, Alpher discusses the renewed mystery regarding the cause of Yasser Arafat's death in 2004, what does Saudi Arabia's election to the UN Security Council followed by its prompt resignation tell us about Saudi-American relations and the Saudi role in the Iran and Syria issues, and why did it take so long for PM Netanyahu and Finance Minister Lapid to appoint Karnit Flug (pictured) as new governor of the Bank of Israel?

The following article was published in the English edition of Israel's Haaretz daily on October 13, 2013

By Ori Nir 

Two recently published surveys should make the Israeli government pause and ponder the impact of its intransigent policies on its staunchest supporters, American Jews.

This is the ninth in a series of reviews of new books on Middle Eastern affairs. We asked Dr. Gail Weigl, an APN volunteer and a professor of art history, to review Sayed Kashua's novel on Jewish-Arab relations in Israel. 

The Israeli daily, Ma'ariv, recently ran a story about construction in East Jerusalem, and told its readers, "These figures were given to us by Hagit Ofran, who heads the Settlement Watch program for Peace Now [Shalom Achshav]. Ofran carefully monitors each and every construction permit given to neighborhoods beyond the Green Line and documents them. She was the only one who could give us the precise numbers in an orderly Excel chart."

This week at J Street, APN hosted the panel: Settlements--Not Too Late, moderated by APN's President and CEO, Debra DeLee. Panelists included APN's Lara Friedman, the Director of Policy and Government Relations, and Peace Now's Secretary General, Yariv Oppenheimer, as well as Dan Rothem, Senior Research Consultant of the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace and Daniel Seidemann, Founder and Director of Terrestrial Jerusalem.

Returning to Israel after a week in Washington, Israel-Palestine experts Daniel Seidemann and Dan Rothem are encouraged by the Obama administration's commitment to advance peace efforts between Israel and the Palestinians. They spoke with us at APN's office in Washington.

This week, Alpher discusses whether the Syrian chemical weapons agreement and the Obama-Rowhani phone conversation evidence of an approaching "new Munich" and Netanyahu's "sounding the alarm," what the outcome depends upon, what Netanyahu's and Israel's most immediate legitimate concerns are regarding the upcoming round of talks with Iran, how would a possible administration linkage between Iran and Israel-Palestine, as implied in Obama's UN speech work, and how seriously does he take reports of growing tensions between Egypt and the Hamas leadership in Gaza.

Americans for Peace Now (APN) welcomes President Barack Obama's commitment to continue pursuing Arab-Israeli peace and to continue focusing on peacefully preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

In particular, APN endorses President Obama's focus at the United Nation's General Assembly on engagement with Iran. APN also joins the President's call on friends of Israel in the US and worldwide to "recognize that Israel's security as a Jewish and democratic state depends on the realization of a Palestinian state." 

Shemini Atzeret -"the Eighth [day] of Assembly"- is celebrated beginning Wednesday night, September 25th, immediately followed by Simchat Torah - "Rejoicing of the Torah" - on Thursday night, September 26th. (In Israel, the holidays are combined into one and either name can be used).

Americans for Peace Now's President and CEO Debra DeLee and our Chairman of the Board Jim Klutznick represented APN last night at a meeting for Jewish community leaders with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in New York.