Encountering Sara Ehrman — whether for a single conversation, or a lifetime of friendship — was a life-altering experience. Sara was smart, funny, strategic, irreverent, and relentless. She crossed generations, status, gender, and just about every arbitrary boundary, excluding ideology. And for the ideology, values and organizations that Sara unwaveringly supported, she was a ferocious advocate. What a gift for APN that we were a beneficiary of that commitment and incredible life force. Sara committed herself to peace between Israel and Palestine as a teenager and had not backed away from that work as she began her 97th year!

Because I not only loved Sara Ehrman, but because I admired, respected, trusted and was in awe of her, I cannot think of any legacy that I would rather leave of my 21 years at APN, than a fund in Sara's name to support programs that celebrate and promote the cause of peace that Sara believed in and fought for. And so, APN has established The Sara Fund. Monies contributed to The Sara Fund will be used to support programs, both in the US and Israel, that foster intergenerational engagement on the issue of peace between Israel and her Palestinian neighbors, particularly focusing on women — from the youngest advocates, to the oldest among us.

I urge you to support The Sara Fund, not only because it will promote and support important and meaningful programs, but because it is an appropriate tribute to this remarkable woman. To quote my dear friend Sara, "I'm hanging up now".

— Debra DeLee, APN President & CEO

A version of this essay also appeared in The Forward on August 29, 2018

By the time you receive this letter, I will have stepped down from my position as President and CEO of Americans for Peace Now (APN), after serving in this capacity for 21 years. However, I’m writing this with six weeks left in my tenure at APN, and I’m anxious to share my thoughts and feelings with you, this being the last time I will have this forum through which to speak to you.

I was hoping to put into words the many feelings I’m experiencing at this time:

Gratitude: for having the honor to serve the dedicated and supportive APN Board, my talented APN colleagues and you, our generous and committed supporters.

Pride: in the important work that APN does both here and in the Middle East.

Awe: at our colleagues in Shalom Achshav (Peace Now, the Israeli peace movement) — many of them among the signers of the original officers’ letter establishing the organization in 1978 — who work tirelessly for a future that their children, grandchildren and those of their Palestinian neighbors deserve.

Excitement: about new possibilities ahead.

But, sadly, I am also feeling rage. The targets of my rage are those who know right from wrong, yet have chosen wrong for personal or political expedience.

Week 1 Books - Exposing the divisions that exist in Israeli society between different ethnic, religious, and political groups.

Americans for Peace Now invites you to join us in “Three Weeks of Contemplation: Hate, Peace, and Reconciliation,” featuring a hand-picked selection of current books by Israeli and Palestinian writers.

As I get ready for Middlebury College’s summer Hebrew immersion course in preparation for beginning rabbinical school in fall 2019, I am reflecting on my APN story.

For pretty much everyone I grew up with, my Presbyterian parents in particular, my decision to become a rabbi comes as a surprise. A few years ago, before I came to work at APN, I wouldn’t have been able to imagine it myself.

I began attending Hillel events in college at the same time that I started studying Arabic and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Initially, I found it difficult to embrace conversion wholeheartedly because of the conflict between my spiritual and cultural attraction to Judaism and my strong criticism of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

While I was living in the West Bank in the summer of 2014, the IDF set off sound bombs and tear gas outside my window as it raided Ramallah at 3 am every night for a week. That first night, I was more afraid than I had ever been, but the next day at work I realized this was normal for my Palestinian colleagues. While strongly committed to Jewish values, I was deeply conflicted about embracing Judaism when I saw, up close, such abuses committed by the Jewish state. And as a person committed to ending the occupation, would I be accepted by the Jewish community?

Take a look at this photo.

It shows an Israeli police officer suffering a head injury yesterday in the West Bank, just south of Bethlehem. Who attacked him? A Palestinian? Hamas? No. Rock-throwing Jewish settlers. 

These hoodlums were part of a crowd of hundreds of right-wing zealots who gathered at Netiv Haavot, an illegal outpost, to protect buildings that settlers built on stolen land, privately owned by Palestinians.

Yesterday’s clashes went on for hours. Settlers gathered in the structures and on roofs, pelting police officers with rocks, bottles, and paint canisters.

After Roseanne Barr's vile, racist tweet yesterday, ABC has cancelled her show. But we at APN know well - and personally - about Roseanne's vitriol on Twitter.

Americans for Peace Now has exciting news: our new Facts on the Ground map app is almost here!

Facts on the Ground is a game-changing tool for educating the world about Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Anyone with an iPhone or Android phone can instantly access comprehensive, up-to-date information, statistics, and analysis on this topic. This one-of-a-kind tool is fueled directly by data collected on the ground by Peace Now (Shalom Achshav), the world's most reputable source on West Bank settlements.

Facts on the Ground can play a vital role in helping anyone understand how settlements prevent peace, and what must be done to preserve the possibility of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.