May 16, 2016 - Hamas, Hezbollah, China and BDS

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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.

This week, Alpher discusses the State Comptroller’s report on conduct of the summer 2014 war with Hamas in Gaza and its significance; why, unlike Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon appears to remain highly reticent to engage Israel militarily again; impressions and insights that are relevant to Israel in his travels in Canada and New Zealand; and why Israel is, relatively speaking, smug about dealing with BDS and even the EU boycott of settlement goods.

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Yom Haatzmaut -Israeli Independence Day- a message from Shalom Achshav's director Avi Buskila

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Dear partners and friends,

I am very excited at the opportunity to introduce myself to you as the new director of Shalom Achshav (Peace Now).

I was born and raised in the Upper Galilee in northern Israel. I studied in the regional high school in Kibbutz Kfar Blum, and then served in the IDF for 14 years as a combat soldier and a commander. If you follow the Israeli media, you may have seen my name mentioned in the context of my work for civil rights in Israel.

For me, Israel’s Memorial Day and Independence Day are both complex and special. Every year, on Yom Hazikaron, Memorial Day, I mourn the tragic loss of my friends Avraham, Yuval, Ro’i and Ro’i, two dear friends who shared the same first name. Hours later, on Yom Ha’atzma’ut, after a day of commemorating friends lost in battle, I pivot with the rest of the country to celebrate my state and its many achievements. Yet, as I do, I cannot ignore my ever-growing frustration with the fact that our leadership is doing so little to end the ongoing violence and horror that haunts us. They are doing so little to actively pursue peace.

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Berkshires Luncheon with Yossi Alpher - June 26th

Americans for Peace Now

Martin & Shirley Bresler, Debra DeLee & Arnie Miller,
Letty Cottin Pogrebin & Bert Pogrebin, and
Marcie Setlow & David Scribner, invite you to the:

Americans for Peace Now Luncheon with
Yossi Alpher, Israeli Security Expert

Sunday, June 26, 2016, 11:30 a.m.

Egremont Country Club in the Berkshire Mountains
685 S Egremont Road, Great Barrington, MA 01230

Lunch and Program: $90
(all but $25 is tax deductible)

RSVP to debradelee@peacenow.org, 202-408-9898, or ONLINE (indicate "Alpher Berkshires Reservations" in the comment box)


Yossi will be discussing issues raised in his latest book, just now hitting the shelves: "No End of Conflict: Rethinking Israel-Palestine". The book, available for purchase and for signing at the event, provides ways to better understand and navigate the current challenges.

This is Yossi's first visit to the Berkshires since a similar Americans for Peace Now event in 2010. Yossi provides an informed, straightforward, and valuable perspective, and we encourage you to join us on June 26.


"A thoughtful and compelling analysis of the Israeli-Palestinian conundrum by one of Israel's most astute and veteran political and security analysts."
- Aaron David Miller, vice president of the Woodrow Wilson Center and former Middle East analyst and negotiator in Republican and Democratic administrations.

"Alpher opens new ground in presenting five options for the future along with the challenges to making them work."
- Thomas R. Pickering, former US undersecretary of state and ambassador to Israel, Jordan, Russia, and the United Nations.

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News from Peace Now's (Israel) Settlement Watch:

As published May 9th in Haaretz following Peace Now's investigation, construction of a huge structure referred to as the “Amana House” has recently started in Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem. The structure is intended to serve as an office building for the Amana association - a private entity operating toward establishing and expanding settlements and responsible for many of the illegal outposts in the Territories. The structure is being built within the Palestinian neighborhood  of Sheikh Jarrah, and is adjacent to St. Joseph Hospital, which serves the Palestinian population of Jerusalem and the West bank.

Construction of the settlement is supported by a wide array of governmental institutions, headed by the Israel Land Authority (ILA). The ILA, in an illegal and misleading procedure and without a tender, expropriated private Palestinian land and handed it over to Amana, a right-wing, pro-settler organization that is politically and ideologically affiliated with the right-wing government.

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May 09, 2016 - Paris peace summit; Sykes-Picot century; Davutoglu’s demise

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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.

This week, Alpher discusses the backdrop to France's plan to convene an international conference on the Israel-Palestine issue on May 30; what Paris hopes to accomplish; how Israel and the Palestinians view the initiative; his assessment of the chances for progress; if there is a danger here; whether there is a lesson from the 100 year anniversary of the Sykes-Picot agreement between the UK and France that laid the foundation for the Levant boundaries of the modern era; if Syria and Iraq be put back together again; what the immediate ramifications of last week's resignation of Turkish PM Ahmet Davutoglu and if there is a link here to Sykes-Picot.

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Yair_Golan.President_Reuven_Rivlin,_visited_The_Kirya._April_2,_2015.III_(cropped)On May 4th, the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day, Israel’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Major General Yair Golan spoke at Israel’s Massuah Institute for Holocaust Studies. He called for national introspection on Holocaust Memorial Day and warned that processes witnessed in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s are budding in Israel today.

Golan’s bold speech created a storm. Right-wing politicians brutally attacked him, as did some pundits.

Israelis heard and read portions of Maj. Gen. Golan’s speech. English speakers saw short quotes, taken out of the broader context.

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Do This, Not That - Read It!



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Peace Now hands out Shalom flags for Yom Haatzmaut, Israel's 68th Independence day

activists_TA_cropShalom Achshav's new Public Action director, Yotam Yaakoba (second from the right) set up two kiosks in Tel Aviv today to hand out Peace Now's Shalom flags for Yom Haatzmaut, Israel's 68th  Independence day, which will be celebrated on Thursday May 12th. In the week to come, Shalom Achshav will be handing out flags in other locations around Israel.

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Yom HaShoah - Remembering the Holocaust

zikaron-candle320x265The annual day commemorating the victims of the Holocaust and of heroism, begins this evening, Wednesday, May 4.

 

Happy Birthday, Israel. May it be Happier Next Year

Ori-speakers-bureau-picBy Ori Nir

Israel has always suffered a water shortage. Seven years ago, the shortage turned into a crisis. The Sea of the Galilee receded to an unprecedented low, as did the mountain aquifers. Under the slogan “Israel is drying up,” the government ran terrifying television ads, featuring Israeli celebrities whose photoshopped skin was cracking like arid earth and peeling off. My mother used to cover her eyes when these ads ran. “I can’t see it,” she would say. Concerned citizens took shorter showers and stopped using garden hoses to water their plants or wash their cars. Consumption dropped but not enough. The country’s dwindling reserves couldn’t meet demand.

Today, the state of Israel has solved its water problems. Four large water desalination and purification plants were built (two more are under construction), including one that until recently was the largest in the world. Today, more than half of Israel’s drinking water is desalinated Mediterranean water. There is a surplus of water, even as consumption grows.

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