Lara Friedman, director of policy and government relations at APN, spoke on October 14, 2016 before the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) at a special session organized to examine the issue of “Illegal Israeli Settlements: An Obstacle to Peace and a Threat to the Two-State Solution.”

Speaking in advance of the meeting, APN President and CEO Debra DeLee stated:

Israeli settlement policies is an issue on which APN and our Israeli sister organization, Shalom Achshav, are justifiably recognized as the leading experts, both in terms of knowing and in terms of explaining the facts about settlements and their implications for peace and the two-state solution. And the facts point to a clear conclusion: the Israeli government’s policy of prioritizing settlements threatens the vital interests of Israel – its people and its national future. This Security Council meeting is a welcome opportunity to highlight the damage settlements are doing to Israel and the quest for peace.

 

VIEW: Full video of the October 14, 2016 UNSC Arria-formula meeting on settlements

READ: Lara Friedman's statement to the UNSC, delivered October 14, 2016
(A pdf of the statement may be viewed/downloaded here).

VIEW: The Post-meeting press conference

LISTEN: To the Briefing Call with Lara Friedman and Israeli legal expert Michael Sfard (immediately following the UNSC meeting & press conference)

Media coverage

Haaretz 10/25/2016: As an Israeli, B'Tselem and Peace Now Protect Me. Who Will Protect Them?
Haaretz (Zeev Sternhall) 10/21: Yes, Israelis, We Must Wash Our Dirty Laundry in Public
Haaretz 10/21/2016: APN's Lara Friedman in Haaretz: Speech Made by Americans for Peace Now at the UN Reflects Love for Israel (text also available here)
Haaretz  (Rabbi Eric Yoffie) 10/20/2016 Americans for Peace Now, You Made a Mistake in Appearing Before the UN
Haaretz 10/19/2016: Israeli Envoy to Security Council: UN Must Stop Interfering in Israeli Affairs by Funding B'Tselem
YNET 10/18/2016: US State Department 'grateful' to B'tselem
Arutz Sheva 10/18/2016: Washington 'grateful' to B'tselem
The Forward 10/17/2016: If Israel Lets in Palestinian Refugees, Will It Lose Its Jewish Character?
Haaretz 10/17/2016: U.S. Defends Israeli Anti-occupation Group, Says 'Freedom of Expression' Must Be Protected
Israel Hayom 10/16/2016: Netanyahu: Peace Now, B'Tselem are 'deluded,' slander Israel
Press TV 10/16/2016: Netanyahu raps Israeli NGOs for anti-settlement UN comments
HaModia 10/16/2016: Netanyahu: Leftist Groups That Testified at U.N. Security Council ‘Beyond the Pale’
ABC News 10/14/2016: Israeli Rights Group Urges UN to End Palestinian Occupation
New York Times 10/14/2016: Israeli Rights Group Urges UN to End Palestinian Occupation
JTA 10/14/20161: At UN Security Council, human rights groups slam Israeli occupation, settlement expansion
Haaretz 10/14/2016: U.S. Tells UN Security Council: Israeli Activities in West Bank Creating One-state Reality
Haaretz 10/14/2016: Americans for Peace Now, B'Tselem to Address UN Security Council
Jerusalem Online 10/14/2016: B’Tselem Executive Director speaks in front of UN Security Council about settlements
Times of Israel 10/14/2016: B’Tselem head urges Security Council to act now on settlements
Arutz Sheva 10/14/2016: Danon: Too bad Israeli organizations join diplomatic terror
Jerusalem Post 10/13/2016 B’Tselem, Peace Now to speak to UNSC against settlements
San Francisco Chronicle 10/13/2016: Palestinians push for UN membership and against settlements
YNet 10/13/2016: B'Tselem to address UN Security Council's informal meeting on West Bank settlements
Haaretz 10/13/2016: Israeli NGOs to Address Special UN Security Council Session on Settlements
Arutz Sheva 10/13/2016: MK Kish: Time to disconnect from B'Tselem and Peace Now
ABCNews 10/13/2016: Palestinians Push for UN Membership and Against Settlements
Times of Israel 10/13/2016: B’Tselem under fire for planned UN presentation on settlements

By APN Intern Naomi Tamura

Every Shabbat, Jews around the world ask God to “spread over us a sukkat shalom – a sukkah of Your peace.” We express our hope for the protection of our dignity and our rights, and to live in a just and peaceful world with our neighbors. As the Jewish festival of Sukkot begins just days after Yom Kippur, Jewish communities come together to celebrate, among other things, the freedom of the people of Israel – and to build their individual and communal sukkahs as physical representations of this peace and protection that we seek.  Unfortunately, there are other homes being built that only serve to prevent both peace and freedom.

Three years ago, I lived on Kibbutz Ein-Dor in the north of Israel as part of my gap year program. There, I and 37 others helped build a sukkah (pictured).  Although it was little more than a simple, open-roofed structure with only one permanent wall, we rejoiced in our sukkah’s vulnerability. Our collective efforts to hang pictures of our families, lace colorful streamers around the few tree branches that served as our roof, and stake PVC piping into the ground as the sukkah’s base all brought us closer together as a community. Yet, it was the way that we ate, sang, joked, and dreamed together that allowed us to understand the true meaning of community filled with members who are at peace with one another.

This Sunday evening, as we prepare to celebrate Sukkot in a new year, we should be reminded of the connections between the sukkah and peace. The openness of the sukkah not only reminds us to share our homes with others, but asks us to open our hearts and minds towards building inclusivity and tolerance. In doing so, the sukkah becomes a communal structure sustained only by the shared commitment and vigilance of all its guests.

Americans for Peace Now (APN) today announced that its director of policy and government relations, Lara Friedman, will be speaking October 14, 2016 before the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) at a special session organized to examine the issue of “Illegal Israeli Settlements: An Obstacle to Peace and a Threat to the Two-State Solution.”

 APN President and CEO Debra DeLee commented:

 “We are extremely proud that Americans for Peace Now has been invited to address the Security Council on the issue of Israeli settlement policies. This is an issue on which APN and our Israeli sister organization, Shalom Achshav, are justifiably recognized as the leading experts, both in terms of knowing and in terms of explaining the facts about settlements and their implications for peace and the two-state solution. And the facts point to a clear conclusion: the Israeli government’s policy of prioritizing settlements threatens the vital interests of Israel – its people and its national future. This Security Council meeting is a welcome opportunity to highlight the damage settlements are doing to Israel and the quest for peace.” 

Statement by Lara Friedman, Americans for Peace Now
Delivered at the United Nations Security Council – October 14, 2016

The full statement can be viewed as a pdf here
Watch the full testimony here
View the post-meeting press conference here.

Distinguished members of the Security Council,

As a representative of Americans for Peace Now – an organization that is committed to Israel’s existence and its future – it is not easy for me to speak before this body today.

It is not easy because while this forum will focus in large part on human rights violations by Israel, there are states represented here whose own human rights records are abysmal. There are even states in this forum that still do not recognize the existence of Israel, 70 years after that nation’s birth and despite its membership in the UN’s General Assembly.

It is also not easy for me to speak here today because of the deteriorating political climate in Israel as far as democracy is concerned. For some time now we have been witnessing an ugly campaign against courageous Israeli human rights and civil society NGOs – carried out by reactionary groups in Israel and by the Israeli government itself. Campaigns that target the legitimacy of NGOs like our Israeli sister organization, Shalom Achshav – Peace Now.

These groups are being targeted because their work reveals facts that some prefer to hide – facts that challenge the official Israeli government narrative.

J Weekly: October 2
“A Shrine to Tolerance Shows Grave Insensitivity”
By Ori Nir

The opinion piece by Rabbi Abraham Cooper (“Museum of Tolerance not being built atop Muslim cemetery,” Sept. 23) takes issue with my assertion that the Wiesenthal Center is knowingly building its Museum of Tolerance at the site of a historic Muslim cemetery and that bones of people buried there have been dug up to make room for the museum (“American Jewish progressives must act to defend their values in Israel,” Sept. 16).

My assertion is based on facts. These facts have been discussed in Israeli courts and in the Israeli public arena, and are included in Israel’s Supreme Court ruling. The heart of this ruling was not the question of whether there were skeletons buried where the museum now stands, but the manner in which the bones in the “Purple Zone” would be handled.

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Middle East Monitor: October 7
“Monitoring group: West Bank settlement construction has quadrupled,” draws on Peace Now’s Settlement Watch data.

Wall Street Journal: October 5
“Israel Defends Planned West Bank Construction,” an article on tension in US-Israel relations over settlements quotes Peace Now statistics.

LA Times: October 5
“U.S. condemns Israel’s plan to create more housing in the West Bank,” Peace Now warns that new Shiloh construction may grow to 300 housing units.”

Times of Israel: October 5
“US invokes Peres legacy in biting condemnation of settlement expansion,” Peace Now blasts Israeli government for approving hundred new homes for settlers in Shiloh.

Israel Hayom: October 2
“Report: Nearly 100 housing units to replace Amona outpost,” quotes Peace Now’s responses to the advancement of plans for 98 settlement homes near Shiloh.

Jerusalem Post: October 1
“Plans for 98 new settler homes advance,” Peace Now draws attention to the Israeli Higher Planning Council’s advancement of plans for 98 new homes in Shiloh settlement.

i24news: October 1
“Israel approves 300 new West Bank settlement homes after Amona demolition order,” Peace Now says the Israeli government is set to approve construction of 300 new housing units near Shiloh.

If the aim of the Israeli government is to prevent a peace deal with the Palestinians, now or in the future, it’s close to realizing that goal. Last week, it approved the construction of a new Jewish settlement in the West Bank, another step in the steady march under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to build on land needed to create a Palestinian state.

The Obama administration, with every justification, strongly condemned the action as a betrayal of the idea of a two-state solution in the Middle East. But Mr. Netanyahu obviously doesn’t care what Washington thinks, so it will be up to President Obama to find another way to preserve that option before he leaves office.

The best idea under discussion now would be to have the United Nations Security Council, in an official resolution, lay down guidelines for a peace agreement covering such issues as Israel’s security, the future of Jerusalem, the fate of Palestinian refugees and borders for both states. The United Nations previously laid down principles for a peace deal in Resolution 242(1967) and Resolution 338 (1973); a new one would be more specific and take into account current realities. Another, though weaker, option is for Mr. Obama to act unilaterally and articulate this framework for the two parties.

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