APN's Ori Nir will be speaking on a panel discussion with Gabriel Scheinmann at Goucher Hillel, 7pm on March 25th

There were only a handful of Israeli settlers beyond the Green Line in 1968, when Lyndon Johnson became the first American president to express opposition to settlements in the West Bank. Now, despite protest from every subsequent administration, there are more than 350,000 Israelis living in the West Bank and 200,000 in East Jerusalem. President Johnson’s prediction that settlements would “prejudice a peace settlement” has come true, as the dramatic rise of the settler movement—in both numbers and political power—has complicated repeated efforts to achieve a two-state solution.

In this panel at J Street's 2015 conference, APN's Lara Friedman, together with other experts on American and European policy explored what steps can be taken to halt further settlement growth and entrenchment, and discuss the political and policy implications of American and European initiatives—from discouragement of Israeli settlement subsidies to the labeling or boycott of settlement goods.

Watch to see  Lara Friedman, together with Michael Cohen of the Boston Globe and Alon Sachar of the US State Department, with Steve Krubiner, J Street's Chief of staff,  moderating.  Aviva Meyer, Deputy Chair of APN, introduces the participants. Session begins at 10:35.

Israeli Elections: Initial Analysis
Briefing call Wednesday, March 18th, 12 noon, Eastern Time
With Israeli Security Expert Yossi Alpher

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.

Listen to the analysis HERE.

Sunday, March 15th, 11:30am at Westmoreland Congregational UCC

APN's Rabbi Alana Suskin spoke with Ambassador Warren Clark,  Commissioner Mai Abdulrahman, with the panel moderated by  Alton Frye.

Friday, February 27th, at 4:00 PM Eastern Time.
To join the call dial 951-797-1058 and enter passcode 147414.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will come to Congress next Tuesday to try to mobilize it against the Obama administration’s efforts to reach a deal with Iran. This week, he described Congress as the “last stop” before a deal that he deems catastrophic for Israel. But will Congress come to Netanyahu’s help? Can Congress thwart such a deal? And what kind of a deal are President Obama and Secretary Kerry trying to secure? In what way does its chief characteristics differ from Netanyahu’s approach?

On March 3nd, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to speak to the US Congress at the invitation of the Republican Leadership, not the White House. It’s a decision that’s driven Netanyahu’s already strained relationship with President Obama to a breaking point.

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!

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.

APN in Southern California is a co-sponsor of the following breakfast program to be held on Wednesday, February 4:

Nice or Necessary? Jewish-Arab People-to-People Programs

Breakfast Program with Joel Braunold, U.S. Director of the Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP)

Wednesday, February 4, 2015, 8:00 a.m.

Lenny's Deli (back room)
2379 Westwood Blvd., Los Angeles (at Pico)

Bagel Breakfast: $15 (pay at door)

RSVP to apnwest@peacenow.org or 323-934-3480

Sponsors: Americans for Peace Now, American Friends of Neve Shalom Wahat al Salaam, J Street, Partners for Progressive Israel

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The Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP) is a network of organizations that seek to build a secure just and sustainable peace, and conduct civil society work in conflict transformation, development, coexistence and cooperative activities on the ground in the Middle East among Israelis, Palestinians, Arabs, and Jews.

There are more than 80 member organizations in ALLMEP, including the Arab-Jewish Village Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam and the bilingual and multicultural Hand in Hand schools, the Jerusalem one recently attacked in a hate crime.

Joel Braunold is the U.S. Director of ALLMEP, after having previously served in leadership roles in London and New York at the ALLMEP member organization PeaceWorks Foundation/OneVoice Movement. He has received the Avi Schaefer Peace Innovation Prize, and his insightful analysis on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been published by national and international media outlets, including Ha'aretz.com, the New York Daily News, the Guardian, the Huffington Post and the Daily Beast.

I have written to you in past years to alert you to Americans for Peace Now’s annual Israel study tour, which I lead. These tours focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and efforts to resolve it, and examine Israel’s security and diplomatic challenges, as well as the situation on the Palestinian side.

This year’s tour is different. For one thing, it takes place earlier than the usual – April 25 to April 30 – which means that time for registration is short.

The timing of this year’s tour gives us a unique opportunity to observe Israeli society right after general elections, as a new government coalition takes shape, and with it new policies – for better or worse. By the time we start our tour, five weeks after the March 17 general elections, we should expect a government coalition to have been formed and maybe even sworn in. Considering the importance of these elections, and regardless of their results, the period following the elections will be pivotal for Israel’s future as is the ever-revolving Middle Eastern regional kaleidoscope.