Israeli alarm over Iran's nuclear program is wholly legitimate. Israeli skepticism about Iran's intentions in negotiations is natural, as are its fears that Iran will exploit an agreement to move ahead with dangerous plans of its own. Indeed, all of these concerns are shared by the U.S., others in the Middle East, and nations around the world.
11/12/13
UPDATE: Settlement Boom Even Bigger Than Was Known
Today, Peace Now (Israel) and Americans for Peace Now released a new report looking at the first 8 months of the Netanyahu government and its record regarding settlements. The key findings are summarized below, followed by a detailed examination of the data. The full report, including all the data in table form, can be viewed/downloaded here.
An article by Shaul Amsterdamski in today's edition of the Calcalist - an Israeli business daily linked to Yedioth Ahronoth - reports on a remarkable phenomenon: the variety of "loans" made by the Israeli government to settlements and individual Israeli settlers, either with a formal or informal understanding that part, most, or even all of the loan would never be repaid.
The original article (in Hebrew) is available here. Includes here is a portion of the article, as translated into English by Israel News Today.
Americans for Peace Now (APN) today denounced the government of Israel's actions to move forward
with yet more settlement approvals in both East Jerusalem and the West Bank. APN once again urged U.S. officials
- President Obama, Secretary of State Kerry, and Special Envoy Indyk - to engage forcefully to convince Prime
Minister Netanyahu to cease and roll back these reckless, destructive decisions.
Americans for Peace Now (APN) today denounced the government of Israel's actions to move forward with yet more settlement approvals in both East Jerusalem and the West Bank. APN once again urged U.S. officials - President Obama, Secretary of State Kerry, and Special Envoy Indyk - to engage forcefully to convince Prime Minister Netanyahu to cease and roll back these reckless, destructive decisions.
Today the Israeli Peace Now movement issued a report documenting a surge in settlement construction during the first half of 2013. The report contradicts the popular narrative that settlement construction in the West Bank slowed during the run-up to the re-start of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
In reality, the period of January-June 2013 saw a huge increase in construction compared to the same period in 2012. The details of the report are summarized below. The full report is available here.