Jo-Ann Mort is vice chairperson of Americans for Peace Now and CEO of the New York City-based strategy firm ChangeCommunications.

(This essay first appeared in fathomjournal.org on January 31, 2013)

This election was a failure for the sitting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his young guard in the Likud, especially Education Minister Gideon Saar and Environment Minister Gilad Erdan, both of whom took leading roles in the campaign. It was an astounding success for former journalist Yair Lapid and his centrist Yesh Atid party, and a resounding comeback for the Zionist-left, especially the Meretz Party.

Terrestrial Jerusalem (2013)
Jerusalem expert Danny Seidemann outlines how the Israeli government has been using settlement construction to integrate parts of East Jerusalem into Israel while detaching them from the Palestinian population PDF >

60 Minutes (2009)
Has peace in the Middle East become nothing more than a pipe dream? As Bob Simon reports, a growing number of Israelis and Palestinians feel that a two-state solution is no longer possible. (13:10) Watch >

Daniel C. Kurtzer, Scott B. Lasensky, William B. Quandt, Steven L. Spiegel, and Shibley Z. Telhami / Cornell University Press (2013)
Book Review (Foreign Affairs) | CampusBooks

Obama Is Right When He Says Netanyahu Shoots Israel in Foot

So now we have the journalist Jeffrey Goldberg, presumably based on conversation(s) with officials of the Obama administration, perhaps with the president himself, quoting Obama: "Israel doesn't know what its own best interests are." And then, with "each new settlement announcement Netanyahu is moving his country down a path toward near-total isolation."

Shaul Arieli (2013)
Overview of the state of Israel's security, including current and former threats. Questions related to Israel's security alongside an independent Palestinian state are also addressed. (3:31) Watch >

Americans for Peace Now (January 2013)
Report by Peace Now detailing the record of Prime Minister Netanyahu's government on settlements from April 2009 to the present. The report is based on official Israel government statistics, reports, and Peace Now field research. PDF >

The Israeli Peace Now movement (Shalom Achshav) today released an explosive report detailing the record of Prime Minister Netanyahu's government on settlements over the course of its full term in office (April 2009-present). The report, based on official Israel government statistics, reports, and Peace Now field research, documents how over the past four years, the Netanyahu government has used settlements as a tool to systematically undermine the chances of achieving a viable, realistic two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, despite Netanyahu's rhetorical embrace of such a goal.

The full report is available in English, here.

Shaul Arieli (2013)
Outlines the issue of Jerusalem in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including historical background, past negotiating proposals, and the consequences of existing demographic trends if a peace agreement is not achieved. (5:12) Watch >

Theodore Sasson / NYU Press (2013)
Book Review (Publishers Weekly) | CampusBooks