Reacting to several recent moves by Israel's government that sabotage a future Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement, Americans for Peace Now (APN) today called on fellow American Jewish organizations to join APN in vocal opposition to annexation and to unilaterally pre-judging issues that Israelis and Palestinians should negotiate to achieve a final-status peace deal.
Creeping Annexation: Changes in the Interpretation of the Laws Regarding Occupation
Settlements Watch Peace Now,
December 2017
Report's Main Points:
In recent years, the Attorney General and the State Prosecutor's Office have made dramatic changes in their positions on a number of issues regarding Israel's control over the occupied territories (OT). These changes are part of the g overnment's effort to apply the standards of Israel's democracy to settlements located in territory that is subject to belligerent Israeli occupation, where the Palestinian population lives without democracy and equal rights. These changes are contrary to previous positions of the legal echelon and the Supreme Court, and they magnify the legal question surrounding Israel's control of the OT in terms of international law.
Among other things, the Attorney General stated that:
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- It is permissible to expropriate Palestinian land in cases where the Israeli takeover was carried out "in good faith."
- It is permissible to confiscate land for the purpose of access to a settlement.
- Abandoned property may be used for settlement purposes.
- It is permitted to "liquidate" the abandoned property without judicial process.
- It is permissible to expropriate protected tenancy of the Hebron Municipality on public land, even without a judicial process.
- Legislative changes were made to facilitate the demolition and deportation of Palestinian communities in Area C.
These changes mark another step in the policy of de facto annexation of the OT to Israel, and they are intended to "normalize" the settlements and make them part of Israel, even without declaring so.
Today's vote by the United Nations General Assembly, rebuking President Trump's irresponsible move to unilaterally recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, underscores Trump's flawed understanding of diplomacy and the heavy price the US pays when it subjugates a calculated foreign policy and national security interests to domestic politics.
The UNGA vote – 128 countries voting against Trump's move, with only 9 in favor and 35 abstaining – is a slap in the face of the US, a reality check for Israel, but also a welcome endorsement of the two-state solution and of diplomacy as a tool for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is a rebuke of Trump's unilateralism and a bitter blow our country's global leadership role. "This is the price we pay for President Trump acting on a whim and reversing a fifty-year-old policy carefully implemented by past presidents, Democrats and Republicans alike," said Debra DeLee, APN's President and CEO.
Kenneth Marcus, President Trump’s nominee for Assistant Secretary of Civil Rights in the Department of Education, has made it his mission to suppress speech critical of Israel on campuses by labeling it “anti-Semitic.”
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions is due to vote on Marcus’s confirmation today, December 13, 2017. In keeping with our defense of free speech related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and our commitment to opening the debate on this issue in American society, Americans for Peace Now strongly opposes Marcus and calls on senators to vote against his confirmation.
Donald Trump today sabotaged decades of American efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. By announcing
his disastrous new policy on Jerusalem, he is causing severe damage to the prospects of Middle East peace,
imperiling lives, and degrading US leadership.
Defying the counsel of America's top diplomats and security experts, as well as the urging of US regional and
international allies, Trump decided to put politics before policy, to cater to domestic extremists in his political
base, and to toss a match into the most combustible place on earth: the holy city of Jerusalem. Trump's
irresponsible action has further eroded American prestige and influence in the international arena.
Alarmed by reports that the Trump Administration is considering immediate action to move the US
Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Americans for Peace Now is calling on President Trump to eschew this
dangerous action.
From Peace Now's Settlement Watch:
The past few months have seen unprecedented developments in the settlements, causing severe damage to the
chances of a two-state solution. Accelerated population growth, approvals of housing units in the West Bank and
East Jerusalem, promotion of bypass roads, advancements of Knesset bills, home demolitions and changes in legal
interpretations - all lead to a situation of de-facto annexation of area C. Without any official
declarations, the Israeli government is preventing the viability and contiguity of a future Palestinian state,
while treating lands in area C as its own. The implications of the abovementioned developments are far-reaching for
Israel, the Palestinians and the region as a whole.
Peace Now's new report summarizes key developments of the last several months and analyzes their impact,
individually and together, on the viability of a Palestinian state alongside Israel and the possibility for a two
state solution.
Even with the lack of a final status agreement in sight, it is our duty today to struggle in order to prevent
silent annexation efforts and to assure the possibility of a two state solution on the ground.
Americans for Peace Now is shocked and deeply saddened by the mass-casualty attack on worshipers at a mosque in Sinai, Egypt. Our condolences to the families and the people of Egypt, and wishes of full recovery to those injured.
Alarmed by the prospects of the Trump administration ordering the closure of the Palestinian mission in Washington, Americans for Peace Now (APN) is calling on the administration and Congress to allow the Palestine Liberation Organization to keep its office open.
Americans for Peace Now is deeply concerned at the increasing pace with which state governments are adopting legislation that conflates Israel and the occupied West Bank, and denies American citizens their constitutional right to protest the occupation through boycotts.
While opposing boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) that target Israel, APN supports boycotting Israeli settlements in the West Bank as a legitimate way to protest the settlements and the occupation. APN also believes that fighting BDS should not require – or justify – eroding constitutionally-protected rights to free speech and political protest.