On Thursday, March 5th, Yossi Alpher will be in Washington DC promoting his new book, Periphery: Israel's Search for Middle East Allies. APN is hosting a brown-bag lunch – you provide the lunch, we provide the hamantaschen – Yes, the 5th happens to be Purim!

This week, Alpher discusses the likelihood Israel will produce a government capable of moving forward toward a two-state solution; whether a right-wing-led government is more likely at this point; what, at this point in time, is the most likely coalition to emerge from these elections; what surprises he envisions in these elections; the possibility of the United States and the international community ratcheting up the pressure on the next Israeli government; and what are the consequences thus far of the tension over Iran between Netanyahu and the Obama administration that has reportedly brought US-Israeli relations to a new low.

This week, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin publicly lamented the challenge facing the new Palestinian city of Rawabi, whose existence he called a “clear Israeli and Zionist interest.” Rawabi is now ready for its first residents – except that there is no running water. This problem has continued for months, and President Rivlin drew attention to a Haaretz editorial identifying its source: the zero-sum game that Israeli settlers and politicians play with the lives of Palestinians.

APN Chair Jim Klutznick recently brought you the story of Rawabi and how it can benefit Israel – his words are more timely and urgent than ever.

L'Shalom,
Debra DeLee
President and CEO
Americans for Peace Now

By Tim Mathew

Introduction

For many individuals, the practice of and faith in a religion gives meaning to life. The majority of people worldwide do identify with a religion, evidenced by a 2010 study conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life, which found that approximately 84% of the world identifies with a religious group. 1 Religion helps its followers interpret events that occur in their daily lives, and is the lens through which they see the world. Yet, this very essential factor of religious belief that leads to an individual’s perspective is sometimes overlooked and can be seen as something that should be kept private – something that is untouchable, unspeakable, controversial – the third rail.

Introducing our first editorial cartoon!  

Starting this week, APN will be running these cartoons about every other week.

Cartoons have been a hot topic recently because of their power to incite and provoke. We will never be gratuitous with this form of expression—but we do plan to use this medium to incite action and to provoke thought. As we all know, a picture is worth a thousand words. This is our aim: to make people think and to act for peace.

We hope you like them and we hope you like the first one, aptly named: “Messiah complex.”   

On February 17, 2015, APN hosted Amir Tibon, the diplomatic correspondent of Israel's news site Walla for a briefing call on Israel's upcoming elections. A month before the elections, Tibon gave an eye-opening review of Israel's electoral arena, spoke about the way in which Prime Minister Netanyahu's push to speak to Congress about Iran is playing in Israel, and about the way in which various issues are playing in the campaign. He also reviewed various post-election scenarios, and predicted that Benjamin Netanyahu, if he's called on to form the next government, would strive to form a national unity government with the Zionist Camp's Yitzhak Herzog and Tzipi Livni.

With one month to go, Netanyahu’s election manipulations

This week, Alpher discusses Netanyahu's real reasons for speaking to Congress next month; the damage the Congress speech initiative has done to US-Israel relations; whether Israel has any serious objective criticism of US policy regarding Iran, or whether it is all election hype and politics; and what message was PM Netanyahu sending the electorate last week, when he attempted to manipulate the Israel Prize for literature and weaken “leftist” trends?

Tuesday, February  17th, at 2:00 PM Eastern Time. 
To join the call dial 951-797-1058 and enter passcode 147414. Then please record your name clearly.

A month before Israel’s general elections, Benjamin Netanyau’s Likud party seems to be tied in a neck-and-neck race with Yitzhak Herzog and Tzipi Livni’s Jewish Camp party. What was initially thought to be a snoozy campaign is turning out to be a fascinating electoral exercise, which is redrawing the contours of Israel’s political map, raising serious questions about Netanyahu’s legendary political savvy and may even end his rule as Israel’s second-longest serving prime minister.

Yesterday, the Israeli police arrested three suspects for using forged documents to purchase lands from Palestinians in the West Bank. The police investigation began following a complaint by Peace Now and Palestinian land owners during the High Court petition against the illegal outpost of Migron,after the settlers had provided forged documents to the court. This complaint, together with other cases in which settlers used forged documents to purchase lands in illegal outposts, resulted in a police investigation, leading to yesterday's arrests.

This week, Alpher discusses Jordan being dragged into the Syria conflict on the ground in response to the Islamic State’s horrific execution of its pilot; how the escalated fighting in Sinai between the Egyptian army and Ansar Beit al-Maqdes, which has pledged fealty to Islamic State, affects Israel; whether Israel is affected by Russia’s economic crisis; and offers an election update