Americans for Peace Now, J Street, T’ruah, Ameinu, New Israel Fund, Jewish Labor Committee, Partners for Progressive Israel, Hashomer Hatzair, and National Council of Jewish Women welcome the reintroduction of legislation to establish a Partnership Fund for Peace. The Fund will support people-to-people peacebuilding programs, which play an important role in building connections, understanding, and reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians. It will also finance joint ventures between Palestinian companies and businesses in the United States and Israel.

While we welcome the legislation, we are concerned about the political moment in which this legislation is being introduced. It is increasingly clear that the Trump administration’s “peace” approach entails forcing the Palestinians to give up on statehood in exchange for promises of economic development. Some may therefore read this bill as endorsement of an “economic peace” approach.

We strongly emphasize that our endorsement of the Partnership Fund for Peace should not be read that way. As the legislation states, a strengthened Palestinian economy and improved people-to-people ties are central to prospects for a two-state solution. The converse is also true: a diplomatic solution and an end to occupation are essential both to the growth of the Palestinian economy and to Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation. Economic development is no substitute for a political agreement that will resolve the core issues driving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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

1. Bills, Resolutions, & Letters
2. SFOPS season starts - House text/report/markups
3. Hearings
4. On the Record

NOTE: Congress continues (reportedly) to wrestle with a “fix” for ATCA but related life goes on - as seen notably this week in 2 distinct developments: (1) As noted in yesterday’s summary of the House FY2020 SFOPS, House appropriators appear to have come up with an elegant workaround for ATCA, by funding Palestinian humanitarian needs via accounts not sanctioned under ATCA. Given the insistence of ATCA supporters that ATCA was never intended to prevent such funding, perhaps this approach will be allowed to go forward. And (2) On 5/17 Grassley (R-IA), who was the moving force behind ATCA, put a hold on the Trump Administration’s nominee for Ambassador to Turkey, David Satterfield. He explained in a floor speech his reason: “...the State Department's, through Ambassador Satterfield, consistent efforts to protect the Palestinian Authority and Palestine Liberation Organization from liability and thereby undermine the rights of American victims of Palestinian terrorism. This stands in sharp contrast to the intent of Congress.” Read the full statement to get a full sense of Grassley’s determination to see ATCA’s core purpose - enabling US citizens to sue the PLO and PA out of existence - be implemented.

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

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

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

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

Shameless Plug: Last week’s Round-Up included details of letters sent to the Department of Education demanding answers and retribution for an academic conference held by UNC & Duke, dealing with Gaza. Since then, media reports continued to breathlessly repeat and even escalate the charges made in the letters - underscoring the need for someone to set the record straight. Which I did, in an April 24 op-ed: Why So Much Fuss about a Conference in North Carolina?

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

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

Recommended reading: Fun piece about evolving controversy, emerging policy disagreements among Democrats on the Hill, including among 2020 contenders, on Israel-Palestine.

Also, here’s a neat piece published this week in the Federalist (the political outlet published by the husband of Meghan McCain), written by “Jason D. Hill is honors distinguished professor of philosophy at DePaul University in Chicago” - openly endorsing war crimes against the Palestinians (you gotta read it to believe it).

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

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

The letter includes: “We welcome bipartisan efforts aimed at combating anti-Semitism. However, much of the recent rhetoric and political maneuvering on the issue seems cynically focused on showing that one party cares more about anti-Jewish bigotry than the other. This political theater is not only counter-productive, but endangers the very people such advocates claim to defend.”

More Than 20 Religious, Faith-Based Organizations Call on Congress to Stop Weaponizing Anti-Semitism for Political Purposes.

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

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

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

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

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

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