Americans for Peace Now

APN/Peace Now in the News: October 1 – 7, 2016

by APN 10/10/16

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.

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.

APN/Peace Now in the News: September 19-23, 2016

by APN 09/25/16

Wall Street Journal: September 22
“Abbas to seek U.N. Security Council resolution against Israeli settlements in the West Bank,” Peace Now settlement data quoted in story on possible Israeli-Palestinian UN resolution

AFP: September 22, 2016
“Israel, Palestinians clash over settlements at UN,” Peace Now settlement data quoted in story on possible Israeli-Palestinian UN resolution

Times of Israel (written by JTA): September 19
“Liberal pro-Israel groups to Congress: Don’t obstruct the Iran deal,” Americans for Peace Now and other groups warn against “poison-pill” provisions and measures that would seek to re-impose sanctions

APN/Peace Now in the News: September 12 – 16, 2016

by APN 09/19/16

Jewish Journal: September 12
“Governor Brown should veto flawed BDS law”
By Steve Kaplan and Sandy Weiner, APN Board of Directors

J Weekly: September 15
“American Jewish progressives must act to defend their values in Israel”
By Ori Nir, APN’s Director of Communications and Public Engagement

Times of Israel: September 12
“Bibi, Settlements, and the ‘Ethnic Cleansing’ Canard”
By Lara Friedman, APN’s Director of Policy and Government Relations

United Press International (UPI): September 16
“Israeli settlements in West Bank up 41 percent,” Peace Now criticizes increased construction in West Bank settlements.

Newsweek: September 15
“Israel increases settlement starts by 40% in first half of 2016,” Peace Now cites official figures that show the largest increase in settlement construction since January 2014.

Jerusalem Post: September 15
“West Bank settler housing starts up 17% in 2016,” Peace Now says Netanyahu’s government’s investment in settlements is leading Israel toward a one-state reality.

Middle East Monitor: September 14
“Peace Now: Israeli settlement construction up 40%,” highlights Peace Now’s statements regarding the recent data released by the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (ICBS).

APN/Peace Now in the News: August 29 – September 2, 2016

by APN 09/07/16

AFP (published in i24 News) – September 1
“Top Israeli court orders demolition of rogue outpost in West Bank settlement bloc,” The court order followed the petition by Peace Now and Palestinian residents of Al Khader who claimed the outpost was constructed illegally on Palestinian-owned land.

Jerusalem Post – September 1
“Court orders demolition of 17 settler homes in Derech Ha’avot outpost,” Israel’s High Court of Justice orders demolition of settler homes in response to Peace Now’s petition

France24 – August 31
“Israel approves more than 400 new West Bank settlement homes,” Peace Now quoted that Israeli Authorities approved 466 settlement homes in the Occupied West Bank despite growing international criticism.

Reuters – August 31
“Israel approves 284 new West Bank housing units, draws US ire,” Peace Now quoted saying the Civil Administration approved a 234-unit nursing home in Elkana, 30 houses in Beit Arye, and 20 houses in Givat Zeev.

AFP (published in Ynet News) – August 31
“Additional West Bank construction approved and retroactively sanctioned,” Peace Now quoted saying Netanyahu’s government “continues to plan and build all over the West Bank, while also giving settlers the message that any construction done without planning will be retroactively legalized."

Jerusalem Post – August 31
“Peace Now: Netanyahu abetting illegal settler building,” Peace Now charged that the Higher Planning Council for Judea and Samaria has advanced plans to retroactively authorize 384 settler homes and to legalize another 372 such structures, as well as to advance plans for 1,531 new settler homes this year.

New York Times – August 30
“Israel Quietly legalizes pirate outposts in the West Bank,” Isabel Kershner quotes Hagit Ofran and uses Peace Now’s aerial photographs in her major feature on Israel’s efforts to legalize outposts in the West Bank, such as Mitzpe Danny.

Al-Monitor – August 29
“Will Israel hold referendum over two-state solution?” Ben Caspit reports on the “Deciding at 50” referendum initiative, which will be launched on September 5. He attributes the idea behind to initiative to Peace Now’s Tzali Reshef.

APN/Peace Now in the News: August 17-26, 2016

by APN 09/07/16

Times of Israel: August 26

“Netanyahu’s Mixed Messages on Temple Mount Incitement”
by Lara Friedman, Director of Policy and Government Relations for Americans for Peace Now

In 2009, Israel arrested the head of the northern branch of Israel’s Islamic Movement for incitement, for saying that Israel “seeks to build a synagogue on Al-Aqsa Mosque.” Since then – and especially over the past two years, as unrest has rocked Jerusalem – Netanyahu has regularly argued that Palestinian Authority incitement over the Temple Mount is a chief cause of violence, and has called Palestinian officials’ statements about Israel’s intentions on the Temple Mount “gross lies.”

Earlier this month, on August 14-15, Jews observed the fast day of Tisha B’Av, commemorating various catastrophes that have befallen the Jewish people, including the destruction of the first and second temples. Israel’s Deputy Defense Minister, Eli Ben-Dahan, marked this solemn occasion by telling a crowd gathered for a march around the Old City: “We aren’t embarrassed to say it: We want to rebuild the Temple on the Temple Mount.”

Al-Monitor: August 25
“Will 50 years of occupation unite Israel’s peace camp?” highlights the “Deciding at 50” campaign – “the only initiative by the peace camp on the horizon ahead of the 50^th anniversary of the occupation is coalescing around Peace Now.”

Israel National News: August 24
“Peace Now ‘slanders’ activists over Hevron construction,” discusses Peace Now’s campaign against Jewish construction in Hebron, which features “MK Orit Strok (Jewish Home) and right-wing activists Baruch Marzel and Bentzy Gopstein in cartoon profiles accompanied by the tagline: "He who established 28 housing units in the heart of Hevron wants to perpetuate the conflict and fan the flames in the most sensitive and explosive area of the West Bank."

Maan News: August 23
“Peace Now: New settlement will add 100 more Israeli settlers in Hebron,” details Peace Now’s response to the announcement of settlement expansion in Hebron. “While Peace Now reported on Monday that the renovations for the housing units were already underway, the statement on Tuesday said the planning process for the new settlement had not yet begun in the Israeli Civil Administration's High Planning Committee.”

Haaretz: August 22
“For first time in decade, Israel plans to expand Jewish settlement in Hebron,” Settlement Watch’s Hagit Ofran says “there is an attempt here to overturn a High Court decision that forbade building settlements on land seized for military use.”

Times of Israel: August 22
“Israel said planning to build several Jewish homes in Hebron,” Peace Now is quoted saying the expansion plan contravenes a High Court ruling, and their 2008 and 2010 petitions to the High Court are referenced.

Associated Press: August 22
“Israel takes steps toward new settlement in volatile city,” Settlement Watch’s Hagit Ofran says the approval of settlement expansion in Hebron is “the first approval in the area in more than a decade,” and is an example of Israel “using legal acrobatics, allocating the land to settlers instead of turning it over to the Palestinian-run municipality.”

Washington Jewish Week: August 17
“Closed doors for Israel aid package,” Yossi Alpher’s weekly Q&A column for APN is quoted in a story about the US aid package to Israel. Alpher says that Netanyahu cut Lieberman out of the process in reaction to the Defense Minister’s comparison of the Iran deal to the 1938 Munich Agreement as a way to coalition tensions and reaffirm the US-Israel security relationship.

APN/Peace Now in the News: August 1-12, 2016

by APN 08/12/16

AFP (featured in Al-Arabiya): August 12
NGO says Israel seeking settlement move to Palestinian land, Hagit Ofran, Director of Peace Now's Settlement Watch, says "the civil administration has opened a process where it is announcing that it intends to make use of these properties which are near Amona."

Jerusalem Post - August 11
Israel starts to seize 'abandoned' Palestinian property for Amona relocation, Peace Now says, "This is the crossing of a red line and a reversal of previous policies, including Likud government policies, according to which private lands cannot be used for the purpose of settlement."

Jerusalem Post - August 1
Far-right claim that many Arabs willing to sell Jerusalem homes to Israelis refuted, Anat Ben Nun, Peace Now's Director of Development and External Relations, says "when homes get sold, it is often done through a 'straw man,' who works together with Israeli settler organizations. The few that sell do so for financial reasons, as they are offered very high sums of money for their properties and face harsh social consequences."

APN and Peace Now in the News: July 23-29, 2016

by APN 07/29/16

New York Times - July 28
"Bill Clinton Would Be an Ideal Middle East Convoy"
by Letty Cottin Pogrebin

What should Hillary Clinton do with Bill? That's easy. She should appoint him as special envoy to Israel/Palestine with a presidential mandate to jump start the peace process.

Bill Clinton is the perfect person to create bridging proposals and persuade both parties to make crucial compromises. No one in America is more conversant with the issues that divide Israelis and Palestinians and the events that have led them to the current impasse. No one else knows the neighborhood better — not just its leaders but the civil society activists and local organizers who will ultimately make peace a reality on the ground.

Because of his role as facilitator of the 1993 Oslo process that culminated in the handshake between Yitzhak Rabin and Yasir Arafat on the White House lawn, and his last ditch efforts at the 2000 Camp David summit meeting with Arafat and Israel's then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak, Bill knows the map right down to the streets in Jerusalem and the squares in Ramallah. He knows where the minefields are — right of return, borders, security, and who controls the Temple Mount. If there's the slightest possibility that this 100-year-old conflict can be brought to a peaceful, permanent conclusion, Bill Clinton is the one who can make it happen.

Such an assignment would focus his formidable energy and expertise on this single complex issue and leave the rest of the country for Hillary to run.

Washington Post - July 29
State Dept. criticizes Israeli settlement expansion, demolitions, Peace Now welcomes US criticism of Israel's settlement expansion

Israel Hayom - July 29
US slams increase in Israeli construction beyond Green Line, Peace Now quoted on Israeli government tenders for settlement homes

The News - July 29
New Israeli Settlement Plans Provocative, Peace Now quoted on Israeli government tenders for settlement homes

Haaretz - July 28
Left-wing Israeli Activists Facing Violence, Death Threats, Hagit Ofran, director of Peace Now's Settlement Watch, describes growing threats to the organization

Haaretz - July 28
Secret 1970 Document Confirms First West Bank Settlements Built on a Lie, features Peace Now's aerial settlement maps and Hagit Ofran, director of Peace Now's Settlement Watch, cites the first usage of military orders to seize land for civilian use

Reuters - July 28
US concerned over Israel's settlement activity, Peace Now quoted on Israeli government tenders for settlement homes

Daily Sabah - July 27
US slams new Israeli settlement plans for undermining peace, Peace Now quoted on Israeli government tenders for settlement homes

The Jerusalem Post - July 26
IDF raizes 15 illegal Arab homes in East Jerusalem and West Bank, Eyal Raz, spokesman for Peace Now, says demolitions could exacerbate tensions

Washington Post - July 23
In the settlement of Kiryat Arba, the demand is to expand, Hagit Ofran, Director of Peace Now's Settlement Watch, quoted on the threat of settlement expansion to peace

APN and Peace Now in the News: July 11- July 15, 2016

by APN 07/15/16

New York Jewish Week - July 14

Board Member Martin Bresler's op-ed, "Why I Do Call Israel Out On The Occupation" is published as a response to David Bernstein's "Why I Don't Call Israel Out On The Occupation."

Media Coverage of Peace Now's Response to NGO Law

Al Jazeera - July 12
Israel passes controversial NGO bill amid criticism

Washington Post - July 12
Israel NGOs decry 'deeply anti-democratic' move as new law approved

Reuters (featured in Daily Mail and Voice of America) - July 12

EU says Israel's new NGO law risks 'undermining values'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/reuters/article-3686192/EU-says-Israels-new-NGO-law-risks-undermining-values.html

http://www.voanews.com/content/eu-says-israels-new-ngo-law-risks-undermining-values/3414830.html

The Guardian - July 12
Israel passes law to force NGOs to reveal foreign funding

BBC - July 12
EU criticises Israel law forcing NGOs to reveal foreign funding

The Times of Israel - July 12
EU: NGO law risks undermining Israel's democratic values

The Times of Israel - July 12
Left-wing groups slam 'anti-democratic' NGO law

Al Arabiya - July 12
>Israel approves NGO foreign funding law