The New York Times today published an article based on data collected by Israel's Peace Now movement, quoting Hagit Ofran of Peace Now's Settlement Watch project. Following is the article:

In West Bank, 99.7% of Public Land Grants by Israel Go to Settlers In West Bank, 99.7% of Public Land Grants by Israel Go to Settlers

By Isabel Kershner
July 17, 2018

JERUSALEM — Over five decades in control of the West Bank, Israel has marked out hundreds of thousands of acres as public land, and it has allocated almost half of them for use.

But only 400 of those acres — 0.24 percent of the total allocated so far — have been earmarked for the use of Palestinians, according to official data obtained recently by an anti-settlement group after a freedom of information request. Palestinians make up about 88 percent of the West Bank’s population.

Yossi Alpher is an independent security analyst. He is the former director of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University, a former senior official with the Mossad, and a former IDF intelligence officer. Views and positions expressed here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily represent APN's views and policy positions.

Week 2 Book Recommendations - Exploring love, empathy, and cooperation in spite of the conflict

Today, 13 leading American Jewish organizations submitted a letter to Knesset opposition leader Isaac Herzog expressing opposition to the discriminatory “Nation-State Bill,” which is currently advancing in the Knesset. The bill would alter Israel’s constitution-level Basic Law in ways that pose severe risks to minority rights and Israel’s democratic foundation. The letter is signed by the New Israel Fund, J Street, T’ruah, Americans for Peace Now, Ameiny, Avtzim’s Green Zionist Alliance, Habonim Dror North America, Hashomer Hatzair North America, Keshet, Reconstructing Judaism, Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, Right Now: Advocates for Asylum Seekers in Israel, and Tivnu: Building Justice.

Professor Shibley Telhami, an expert on Palestinian politics and on U.S. Middle East policy joined us on a briefing call on Thursday July 19th, 2018.

One of America’s leading experts on the Middle East, Professor Telhami will comment on the current state of American-Palestinian relations, on Donald Trump’s Israeli-Palestinian policy, on Trump’s prospective “peace plan,” and on the role of Arab governments in the current dynamics between the US, Israel and the Palestinians.  

Listen here.

Shibley Telhami is the Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland, College Park, and non-resident senior fellow at the Saban Center at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC. He is the co-editor of The Peace Puzzle: America’s Quest for Arab-Israeli Peace, 1989-2011, and the author of The World through Arab Eyes: Arab Public Opinion and the Reshaping of the Middle East.

Yossi Alpher is an independent security analyst. He is the former director of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University, a former senior official with the Mossad, and a former IDF intelligence officer. Views and positions expressed here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily represent APN's views and policy positions.

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

Americans for Peace Now (APN) condemns Israeli actions toward Bedouin communities in the West Bank, including Khan al-Ahmar. Israeli authorities have demolished structures in Abu Nuwar and moved in bulldozers to Khan al-Ahmar in preparation for demolishing that community. The Israeli government plans to forcibly transfer the Bedouin members of the Jahalin tribe to Al Jabel, a village near the garbage dump in Abu Dis.

These moves are not only violation of Palestinian human rights; they are also a deliberate move by Israel’s right-wing government to harm prospects for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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.