Americans for Peace Now (APN) strongly condemns the Israeli government's decision to confiscate some 380 acres in the West Bank. The expropriated land, according to Israeli media reports, is intended for Israeli settlers' use.
News from Peace Now's (Israel) Settlement Watch:
This morning the Army Radio reported that Minister of Defense Ya'alon authorized the declaration of 1,545 dunams
south of Jericho as state land. This land has been overtaken by settlers years ago for the purpose of agricultural
cultivations. According to the Army Radio the declaration will be published in the coming weeks. This is the
largest declaration since August 2014, when 4,000 dunams in the Etzion Bloc area were declared as state
lands, resulting in an international storm of criticism.
This approval comes after several declarations and confiscations in the last few weeks as two orders were signed on
23 December 2015, intended to take over new lands in the Qalqilya region and Qusra region southeast of Nablus (see
details below).
Peace Now: Continued land confiscation by the Netanyahu government is a diplomatic
catastrophe. The government's decision is another step on the way to destroy the possibility for a two state
solution. Netanyahu is being dragged by Naftali Bennett and begins a silent annexation of area C.
APN warmly welcomes implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and congratulates the Obama Administration and its international partners on this historic achievement. The JCPOA has already succeeded in dramatically rolling back Iran’s nuclear program and will stringently limit this program going forward, in order to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear program in the future. In doing so, the JCPOA is a clear win for the American people, for U.S. leadership, for U.S. national security and, we believe, for Israel. It is for these reasons that APN and our supporters across the U.S. for years worked in support of a diplomatic solution to the challenge of Iran.
Americans for Peace Now welcomes the statement issued by the European Union's foreign ministers, which states that no European agreements with Israel would be applicable in the Occupied Territories and reiterating the EU's policy of labeling products made in West Bank Israeli settlements.
News from Peace Now's (Israel) Settlement Watch:
Last week the High Court rejected a petition submitted by landowners of the village of Nahla, located south of
Bethlehem, and approved the declaration of 1,341 of their lands as state land. This petition was the last legal
obstacle that stood in the way of the government's plan to establish a new settlement with thousands of housing
units east of the separation barrier in Givat Eitam. The plan, known as "E2," has disastrous consequences on the
two state solution as it blocs Bethlehem from the south and cuts the southern part of the West Bank in half, quite
similarly to the plan known as E1.
News from Peace Now's (Israel) Settlement Watch:
Two important settlement developments in this update:
1. Appointed Attorney General proposes to confiscate private Palestinian lands for
settlements
2. A new settlement established south of Bethlehem
News from Peace Now's (Israel) Settlement Watch:
94% of the donations of 9 well-known right-wing NGOs are nontransparent
In light of the NGO bill, a Peace Now study examining the funding sources and transparency of 9 right-wing pro-settler NGOs finds that 94% of the donations to these organizations in the years 2006-2013 were nontransparent, meaning that there is no possibility to identify their original donor. The study also finds that the majority of the funding to the organizations examined originated from private individuals abroad, arriving mainly through U.S. organizations with a tax-deductible donations status. Many other millions of shekels originated from Israeli taxpayers' money through government ministries and an local municipalities.
Peace Now: The NGO bill, also known as the "transparency bill" has nothing to do with transparency and
everything to do with the delegitimation of organizations criticizing the government's policies. If the Minister of
Justice is truly interested in transparency, she must first and foremost promote legislation requiring right-wing
organizations to expose the millions they receive from private donors abroad and from the state budget.
Washington, DC – Americans for Peace Now (APN) is alarmed by new evidence, exposed today by our Israeli sister organization Peace Now, indicating that the Israeli government is planning massive new settlement construction in the West Bank, including in an area known as “E-1” adjacent to East Jerusalem. Settlement construction in E-1 would likely be a death blow to the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It has therefore been consistently and vehemently opposed by both Republican and Democratic administrations, and by the international community.
The new evidence, some 200 pages Peace Now obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, shows that for the past year, Israel’s Ministry of Housing has been actively working outside of the public's eye to advance plans for 55,548 new homes in West Bank settlements.
News from Peace Now's (Israel) Settlement Watch:
A Settlement Watch Report
A Peace Now report, based on information disclosed by the Ministry of Housing (MoH) following our freedom
of information petition, reveals highly concerning facts on the government's actions and intentions with
regards to the settlements and the two state solution. The report includes data on the planning
of 55,548 housing units in West Bank Settlements, including in E1, as well as plans for two new
settlements and the immediate construction of 3,078 units, 78% of which east of the separation
barrier.
For the full report click
here
Peace Now: The exposed MoH plans portray a worrying and dangerous picture for
the state of Israel and for the two state solution. The execution of the plans exposed does not only stand in
contrast to previous promises to the United States, but also seriously threaten the possibility of arriving at a
two state solution. We call on Housing Minister Yoav Galant of Kulanu not to follow his predecessor's vision and to
stop these plans immediately. Rather than continuing to plan thousands of units in the settlements, we call upon
Minister Galant to invest in planning and construction in Israel proper.
Americans for Peace Now (APN) is alarmed and appalled by the Israeli Cabinet's approval today of a bill aimed at intimidating and silencing progressive Israeli non-profit organizations such as our sister-organization Peace Now (Shalom Achshav), Israel's preeminent peace movement.
The bill, introduced by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked of the far-right Jewish Home party compels representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs, or non-profit organizations), which receive funding from foreign governments, to wear special tags on their clothing whenever visiting the Knesset, and to provide details about their foreign funding in any communication with elected officials.