Following a Peace Now petition, the Israeli High Court of Justice ordered the demolition of 17 homes built on private Palestinian land at the illegal outpost of Derech Ha'avot. The State now has 90 days to appeal and it is considering a proposal by the Gush Etzion Regional Council to retroactively legalize the construction through a "re-parcellation" procedure. This proposal is a kind of legal acrobatics meant to confiscate lands without calling it a confiscation and it is clearly not legal. If this idea would be approved, the settlers could build anywhere, being sure that the land will be given to them eventually. Follow us as we continue the fight against illegal settlement construction.
Americans for Peace Now (APN) welcomes the Palestinian Authority's decision to summon its ambassador to Chile, following anti-Semitic comments that Ambassador Imad Nabil Jada' recently made in Santiago.
According to a statement issued by the Palestinian Authority last night, the PA's Foreign Minister, Riadh al-Maliki, summoned Jada' to Ramallah "for consultation and clarification" in regards to the statements he made in May, which were made public earlier this week.
Americans for Peace Now (APN) strongly condemns vile anti-Semitic statements made by the Palestine Liberation Organization’s ambassador to Chile, in which he denied the existence of a Jewish people, accused the Zionist movement of striving to “dominate life in the entire planet,” and hailed the forged “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” as recommended reading.
APN calls on Mahmoud Abbas, the Chairman of the PLO and the President of the Palestinian Authority, to repudiate the statements of his ambassador to Santiago, Imad Nabil Jada’, to dismiss him, and to remind Palestinian officials of the terrible impact of hate-speech on the cause of peace.
Washington, DC – Americans for Peace Now (APN) today welcomed the Obama Administration’s June 30 rejection of
legislative language conflating Israel with West Bank settlements (full text of the State Department statement is
copied below). APN Director of Policy and Government Relations Lara Friedman commented:
“We welcome the State Department’s statement that U.S. policy regarding settlements remains unchanged. For months
we have been warning of ongoing efforts by some in Congress, led by AIPAC and supported by various right-wing
organizations, as well as by some in the current Israeli government, to change U.S. policy on this issue by
stealth. These efforts seek to exploit concerns about boycotts, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) targeting Israel –
concerns APN shares – as cover for legislation the true purpose and effect of which are to protect and promote
settlements.
For the first time, the government is requesting to officially take over private Palestinian land
in order to legalize an unauthorized outpost, which is built, in part, on private Palestinian land. The request
was presented to the Supreme Court as part of the State's reply to a petition filed by Peace Now and Palestinian
land owners, against 17 houses built on private Palestinian lands in the Derech Ha'avot Ouptost, near
Bethlehem. The first hearing of the case will take place next Monday, 22 June at 9:00am.
Americans for Peace Now (APN) strongly condemns the murder of Dani Gonen, an Israeli citizen, in the West Bank near the settlement of Dolev, north west of Ramallah. Another Israeli was injured in the attack. APN sends its condolences to Gonen’s family and wishes quick and full recovery to the young man who was injured.
Today, as we join our fellow Americans in mourning the victims of the hate-crime in Charleston, South Carolina, and as we re-commit to fighting political violence, racism, and bigotry, Americans for Peace Now (APN) also condemns the torching and vandalizing of the Church of Loaves and Fishes in Israel.
Americans for Peace Now (APN) welcomes the Supreme Court ruling rejecting efforts by Congress and outside groups to wrest control from the Executive Branch over foreign policy-making by legislating the status of Jerusalem in isolation of the context of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
As an American Jewish, Zionist, pro-peace organization, APN was alone in the Jewish organizational world weighing in against the law in question, going so far as to submit an Amicus Brief to the Supreme Court when it considered the case for the first time in 2011.
Americans for Peace Now today called on the Obama Administration to reject Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's cynical call for negotiations over settlement blocs and to instead prepare itself to lead or co-lead a resolution in the United Nations Security Council laying out clear parameters for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, consistent with longstanding U.S. policy. APN President and CEO Debra DeLee issued the following statement:
Americans for Peace Now (APN) commends President Obama for eloquently articulating the strong bond between core American values and progressive Jewish values, and for expressing his frustration with the growing gap between these values and those that are increasingly manifesting themselves in Israeli public life.