Yesterday, the House Foreign Affairs Committee met to consider the Peace and Tolerance in Palestinian Education Act. While the name of the legislation represents something all schools should aspire to, it is in actuality a thinly veiled attempt to de-legitimize the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) and demonize the teaching of the Palestinian narrative. There are real and problematic examples cited by supporters of the bill, which UNRWA takes seriously and is working to address. However, we believe that it is incumbent on schools to teach tolerance and avoid bias in their curriculum on both sides of the Green Line.

Early in the summer, we wrote to you about the new map that APN is creating in partnership with our friends at Shalom Achshav. We’re taking this step because  maps are important. They tell us a story. And we believe that the story they tell should be true and reflect the reality on the ground.  Unfortunately, the official maps used in Israeli schools – as well as distributed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to synagogues, day schools, summer camps, and other Jewish institutions in the US – tell a false story and ignore the reality of territory, history, and the Occupation today.

Twenty-nine years ago this week, the leaders of Americans for Peace Now stood among the many dignitaries at the signing ceremony of the Oslo Accords on the White House lawn. APN has worked behind the scenes in the years that preceded Oslo to push the vision of Israeli-Palestinian peace, advancing the dialogue between Washington and the PLO, and helping induce the détente in relations between the Israel and the Palestinian leadership.

Yossi Alpher is an independent security analyst. He is the former director of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University, a former senior official with the Mossad, and a former IDF intelligence officer. Views and positions expressed here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily represent APN's views and policy positions.

1. Bills, Resolutions, Letters
2. Hearings & Markups
3. On the Record

1. Bills, Resolutions & Letters

On 9/14/22, the House Foreign Affairs Committee will mark-up two Middle East-related measures:

• (OBSTRUCT IRAN DIPLOMACY) H. Res. 1266: Introduced 7/26/22 by Foxx (R-NC) and Wilson (R-SC), “Requesting the President to transmit certain documents to the House of Representatives relating to any initiative or negotiations regarding Iran’s nuclear program.” Referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. Also see: Foxx (R-NC-5) 09/08/2022: Twitter thread – “BREAKING The House Foreign Affairs Committee is taking up my legislation to force the Biden Administration to comply with transparency provisions of the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act. (1/2) Reports indicate that the administration is trying to hide the ball on their negotiations until after the midterm elections. Congress must step up and do its job! (2/2)”;  Jewish Insider 9/8/22: GOP resolution seeking draft Iran deal text headed for House Foreign Affairs vote
• (EVERY DAY IS A GOOD DAY TO TARGET UNRWA & PA) HR 2374: Introduced 4/5 by Sherman (D-CA), Zeldin (R-NY), Gottheimer (D-NJ), Mast (R-FL), and Trone (D-MD), “To require the Secretary of State to submit annual reports reviewing the educational material used by the Palestinian Authority, and for other purposes,” aka, the “Peace and Tolerance in Palestinian Education Act.”  Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. This bill was previously introduced (in various forms, by various groupings similar to the cosponsors on this new bill) in 2018 (HR 6034) and 2019 (HR 2343). Mast (R-FL) tweet in support of the bill is here. Also see: Bipartisan House members reintroduce Palestinian education bill (Jewish Insider), US lawmakers reintroduce bill to address hate, violence in Palestinian schools (Jewish News Syndicate), US Lawmakers Reintroduce Bill to Require State Department Review of Palestinian Curriculum (Algemeiner)

Americans for Peace Now (APN) welcomes the news that Israel has stripped the regulation that would have required foreigners to report romantic relationships with Palestinian ID holders to Israeli authorities from the new Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) entry guidelines and thanks the Biden administration for its efforts to change the protocol.

 Produced by the Foundation for Middle East Peace in cooperation with Americans for Peace Now, where the Legislative Round-Up was conceived.

Yossi Alpher is an independent security analyst. He is the former director of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University, a former senior official with the Mossad, and a former IDF intelligence officer. Views and positions expressed here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily represent APN's views and policy positions.

Today, Americans for Peace Now sent a letter signed by over 400 activists to Secretary of State Antony Blinken demanding that the administration fulfill its duty and conduct an independent and transparent investigation into the killing of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu-Akleh, an American citizen covering the West Bank for Al-Jazeera TV. She was shot to death on May 11th in the town of Jenin during an Israeli military raid.

The letter reaffirms the need articulated by both President Biden and Secretary Blinken for a “full and transparent accounting” and an “independent, credible investigation” and urges the administration to fulfill its obligation by ensuring this occurs.