Washington, DC -- Americans for Peace Now (APN) is alarmed and saddened by the loss of life of unarmed civilians in the Gaza Strip, and warns against further deterioration of hostilities on the Israel-Gaza border. APN calls on both sides, Israelis and Palestinians, to exercise restraint and act responsibly to avoid further bloodshed.
Large numbers of Palestinians are expected to participate in “The Great March of Return” this Friday, which is
Palestinian Land Day and coincidentally also the start of the Jewish holiday of Passover. While protests are also
planned for the West Bank and by Palestinian citizens of Israel, Gaza is the focal point for Land Day activity, as
well as a key flashpoint given the mounting tensions there since President Trump’s December announcement regarding
Jerusalem. Friday’s events are planned to kick off a series of similar marches and rallies in coming weeks, leading
to May 15, the day after Israel’s 70th anniversary of independence which is marked as Nakba Day by
Palestinians.
President Trump’s pick for his third National Security Advisor, John Bolton, is dangerous for American national security and potentially disastrous for the cause of Israeli-Palestinian peace. We urge our supporters, and indeed all Americans, to condemn this choice.
Washington, DC – Commenting on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington, his meeting with President Trump, and his speech at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference today, Americans for Peace Now's President and CEO Debra DeLee issued the following statement:
"Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu again missed an opportunity to offer Israelis, Palestinians, Americans, and the world a shred of hope for peace.
From Peace Now's Settlement Watch:
Today, 12 February, the Settlement Subcommittee of the Higher Planning Committee of the Civil Administration
convened to discuss a series of new plans in the settlements. Among other things, the committee approved the
establishment of a new, “temporary” settlement for the evacuees of Nativ Ha’Avot. The committee also approved
68 new housing units in the settlement of Elazar, the construction of a hotel in the Jordan Valley with 120 rooms
next to a motor park and Tourist Area, and the construction of a cemetery near an industrial zone planned for the
construction south of Qalqiliya. A further plan for an educational campus in the illegal outpost of Mitzpe Danny
was discussed but the subcommittee has postponed its decision to a later date.
Peace Now: “The government is building new settlement areas under the guise of “insignificant” plans that will
not include housing units. This is an old trick used to establish new settlements without calling them that by
name. All of these plans—the construction of a hotel and tourist complex in the Jordan Valley, an educational
campus in an illegal outpost, and even a cemetery as the first stage in the construction of a new industrial
zone—in actuality create new settlements. The Netanyahu government has lost all the brakes on the road to de facto
annexation of the West Bank, and it continues to distance Israel from the prospects for peace and the two-state
solution.”
Details:
Some of the programs that appear on the committee’s agenda are plans for small changes in old plans without the
addition of housing units; however, there are other politically significant plans that will create new settlement
areas, as enumerated below. These additional plans blatantly contradict the declared policy of the Netanyahu
government itself, which committed to limiting construction to the “built-up area” within settlements, and
to holding hearings on plans for new housing units only four times per year (the previous hearing was just last month,
on 10 January 2018):
1. Plan No. 404/1/6/5 (approved for validation) – a plan for the construction of 68 new housing
units in the Elazar settlement near Bethlehem. The plan was approved for deposit on 17 January and was today
approved for validation. It should be noted that the land concerning this plan was once privately owned by
Palestinians but was seized for military use in the 1970s and now is being used for civilian settlement.
2. Plan No. 405/11 (Part 91) (approved for validation) – the establishment of a new, “temporary”
settlement for the families whose homes are slated to be demolished in the Nativ Ha’Avot outpost according to the
High Court of Justice’s 2016 ruling. The plan was approved for deposit on 17 October 2017 and was deposited for
objections one month later. Last week, the subcommittee for objections within the Higher Planning Committee
discussed the objections that had been submitted by Palestinian landowners from Al-Khader and Peace Now. Following
these objections, the subcommittee decided to reduce the number of housing units from 17 to 15, but chose to reject
the objections and to recommend approval of the plan. In the hearing today, the committee approved the
establishment of the settlement, even though the subcommittee for objections admits that the plan is not
appropriate, as it explains: “Although the professional authorities do not dispute that from a planning point of
view, this is an unusual plan.”
To read the Peace Now objection, click here.
Americans for Peace Now (APN) exhorts the Trump Administration to make clear to the Israeli government, in the strongest possible terms, that annexation of any portion of the West Bank is completely unacceptable to the United States.
According to comments made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday, his government has been engaged in discussions with the Trump Administration “for some time now” regarding annexation. This marks the first time Netanyahu has indicated his support for settlement annexation. His statement appears to have caught the White House by surprise and elicited a denial from an administration spokesman that the US had discussed an annexation proposal with Israel. While an Israeli official agreed that the US had not given its approval to any of the various annexation bills up for consideration by the Knesset, that official clarified that Israel has kept the White House briefed on the Knesset bills.
Last year, Americans for Peace Now (APN) cancelled its annual fact-finding mission to Israel and the West Bank due to Israel's newly adopted "Entry Law," which bans from entry into Israel non-citizens associated with groups calling for boycotts.
Americans for Peace Now condemns in the strongest possible terms the murder of Rabbi Itamar Ben-Gal, who was stabbed to death outside the West Bank settlement of Ariel. A teacher and father of four, Ben-Gal was a resident of the settlement of Har Bracha outside Nablus. A Hamas spokesman praised the killing as “a continuation of the resistance to Trump’s Jerusalem declaration.”
There is no reason to rejoice in Vice President Mike Pence's visit to Israel, which commenced yesterday and will continue through tomorrow. It is clear that Pence has come to Israel to pursue his own domestic political agenda, cynically politicizing the US-Israeli relationship to pander to his evangelical Christian base.
In his speech to the Knesset, Pence told Israeli lawmakers that "America stands with Israel." While the US-Israel bond is vital, so are the building blocks on which that bond is constructed.
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions yesterday voted narrowly to confirm Kenneth Marcus as Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights in the Department of Education. The vote took place along party lines. Americans for Peace Now (APN) applauds members of the committee who opposed Marcus's confirmation and welcomes opposition to the appointment by a steadily increasing number of organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).