Press Release: APN Condemns New Silwan Settlement

Americans for Peace Now (APN) joins its Israeli sister organization Shalom Achshav (Peace Now) in strongly condemning the expanded Israeli settlement activity in the Palestinian East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, and warns against the repercussions of this provocative act.

As Peace Now reported, dozens of Jewish settlers overnight took over a large, five-story building in Silwan, and tried to pressure a Palestinian family who resides in it and holds a legal rental contract, to leave. The house is located in a part of Silwan that settlers have not yet tried to penetrate, deep inside this densely-populated Palestinian neighborhood.

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Last night approximately 70 settlers, with police escort, entered the Sarhan House in Silwan. The Sarhan House is a 5-floor building located at the Batan Al-Hawa neighborhood which includes 12 housing units. The house is close to the Abu Nab House as well as to additional houses under threat of eviction based on settlers' claims of ownership prior to 1948. (To learn more about the mechanism of settlement in East Jerusalem neighborhoods click here.) One Palestinian family, whose lease is not up for another few months, is still residing in one housing unit at the Sarhan house. Today, settlers, escorted by police, came to this family's house and tried to intimidate it to leave.
 
The settlers' entry must be understood as a strategic takeover; this is yet another step in a larger attempt to alter the character of the neighborhood and change the status quo in Jerusalem. Even prior to last night's entry, in the past year the settlers managed to double their presence at the Batan Al-Hawa neighborhood. After last night's entry, the settlement has expanded from approximately 10 families residing in two houses to approximately 35 families residing in six houses.

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Press Release: APN Outraged by Murderous Arson Attack in West Bank

Arson_Murder_Palestinian_Child320x265Americans for Peace Now (APN) is outraged by the murderous arson attack in the West Bank, perpetrated by Jewish terrorists, who today killed a Palestinian baby and critically injured his 4-year-old brother and his parents.

APN's President and CEO Debra DeLee said: "Outrage in the face of this monstrous attack should be translated into action: Action by Israel's law-enforcement authorities to find and punish the killers, action by Israeli political leaders and opinion leaders – particularly among the nationalistic right – to stop inciting actions and hate-speech, and action by the Israeli government to fight the environment of lawlessness that Jewish settlers have spawned in the West Bank. This environment, unfortunately, is nourished by Israeli government settlement policies, which reward settler lawlessness, as we have seen this week in the settlement of Beit-El. When building settlements on privately owned Palestinian land and violently clashing with Israeli security officers is immediately rewarded by Prime Minster Netanyahu, who vowed to build 300 new homes there, the message to the settlers is clear: In the wild West Bank, lawlessness pays!"

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Press Release: APN Condemns Planned West Bank Settlement Construction

Americans for Peace Now joins its Israeli sister-organization, Peace Now, in strongly condemning the Israeli government's approval of constructing hundreds of new housing units in settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. APN welcomes the Obama administration's statement, issued last night, which states that settlement expansion threatens the two-state solution and calls into question Israel's commitment to a negotiated resolution to the conflict.

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On Friday, 24 July 2015, Peace Now held it's annual conference in Tel Aviv under the title: Israel Now - Building an Alternative." With 1,200 participants, many of them youth, this was Peace Now's largest conference of all time. Some 60 speakers - including Members of Knesset, journalists, civil society leaders, experts and activists - participated in different panels focusing on the two state solution; international pressure; identity politics; the parliamentary opposition; and the struggle against silencing and de-legitimization of peace organizations. Another issue highlighted at the conference was the struggle against the demolition of Palestinian village of Susya, which is taking place these very days.

Watch highlights of the conference here:

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Peace Now - Settlement Watch News Flash: Advancement of 1065 Housing Units in the Settlements

The sub-committee for settlements of the higher planning committee of the military’s Civil Administration met yesterday to discuss 15 plans, at various planning stages and in different settlements. In total, the committee discussed plans that regard 1,065 housing units. Of these housing units, the plan approved 541 new housing units, retroactively legalized 228 existing housing units, and approved the development of infrastructure for a plan that consists of 296 housing units, while further approval will be needed before construction of the housing units can begin.
 

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Press release: APN Welcomes Iran Nuclear Agreement, Urges Congress to Support the Deal

Americans for Peace Now (APN) today welcomed news that the Obama Administration and its P5+1 partners – France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Russia, and China – have reached an agreement with Iran to radically roll back and limit Iran’s nuclear program.  APN President and CEO Debra DeLee commented:

“We heartily congratulate President Obama and his P5+1 partners, and their indefatigable teams of expert negotiators, for the historic achievement announced today – an agreement that, when implemented, will verifiably roll back Iran’s nuclear program, limit Iran’s nuclear activities going forward, and prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.  It will also ensure that should Iran decide to break the terms of the deal and try to 'sneak out' to a nuclear weapon, both that the U.S. and international community have a far greater chance of detecting such an effort and are in a far stronger position to quickly determine the most effective course of action.

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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.

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Press Release: APN Welcomes Disciplining of Palestinian Envoy over Anti-Semitic Comments

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.

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Press Release: APN Condemns Palestinian Envoy's Anti-Semitic Statements

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.

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