Stay ConnectedPeaceCast is a podcast produced in Washington by Americans for Peace Now, the sister-organization of Israel’s preeminent peace movement. We engage in nuanced conversations with people working towards peace and progress in Israel and Palestine. Episodes feature experts, activists, advocates and scholars whose work or passion is Israeli-Palestinian peace.
Learn more about APN: https://peacenow.org/
Recording of our October 29th, 2024 webinar with Joshua Leifer. This conversation was hosted by Maxxe Albert-Deitch and Karen Paul.
We spoke with Joshua Leifer about Tablets Shattered, his lively and personal history of the fractured American Jewish present. Formed in the middle decades of the twentieth century, the settled-upon pillars of American Jewish self-definition (Americanism, Zionism, and liberalism) have begun to collapse. The binding trauma of Holocaust memory grows ever-more attenuated; soon there will be no living survivors. After two millennia of Jewish life defined by diasporic existence, the majority of the world’s Jews will live in a sovereign Jewish state by 2050. Against the backdrop of national political crises, resurgent global antisemitism, and the horrors of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, Leifer provides an illuminating and meticulously reported map of contemporary Jewish life and a sober conjecture about its future.
Joshua Leifer is a journalist whose essays and reporting have appeared widely in international publications, including The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, The Atlantic, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Haaretz, and elsewhere. He is currently pursuing a PhD in history at Yale University.
In this episode of PeaceCast, Maxxe Albert-Deitch is joined by APN's President and CEO, Hadar Susskind, for a discussion about recent events in the Middle East, the October 7th anniversary, and the past year of conflict. The discussion covers Israel's recent military incursion into southern Lebanon as well as Iran's bombing attack in Israel.
Recording of our September 24th, 2024 webinar with Sarit Michaeli. This conversation was hosted by Madeleine Cereghino.
Gaza and the Occupied Territories in general are at the forefront of conversations around the world– horrific medical scenarios, inhumane treatment of Palestinian civilians, and utterly abhorrent forms of abuse taking place in Israeli prisons and on the ground in Occupied land. B’Tselem is among the leading organizations serving as a resource for facts, figures, and personal stories and putting together the picture of just how dire the circumstances have become. To discuss the “humanitarian disaster zone” of the current Israel-Gaza war, we spoke with Sarit Michaeli, the International advocacy lead for B'Tselem.
Sarit has been at B’Tselem since 2004 and coordinates the organization’s work with international policymakers, diplomats, and civil society. Prior to her current role, Sarit was B’Tselem’s media spokesperson and director of public outreach. Sarit documents demonstrations in the West Bank, with a focus on Israeli security forces and misuse of crowd control weapons, and is active in Israel’s anti-Occupation movement. Sarit has an MA (Distinction) in Gender Studies from Birkbeck College, University of London, and a BA in graphic design from Camberwell College of Art, the London Institute. Prior to joining B’Tselem, Sarit worked as a journalist, graphic designer, and translator in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, London, and New York.
Recording of our September 16, 2024 webinar with Amir Tibon. This conversation was hosted by Hadar Susskind and Maxxe Albert-Deitch.
We spoke with author Amir Tibon about his new book, The Gates of Gaza, as well as his experience as a journalist in Israel over the last 11 months. This webinar was coordinated in partnership with our colleagues at Canadian Friends of Peace Now.
About the book: In The Gates of Gaza, Amir Tibon tells the harrowing story of his family’s survival on October 7th at Kibbutz Nahal Oz. He describes his family's ordeal—and the bravery that ultimately led to their rescue—alongside the histories of the place they call home and the systems of power that have kept them and their neighbors in Gaza in harm’s way for decades. Woven throughout is Tibon's own expertise as a longtime international correspondent, as well as more than thirty original interviews: with residents of his kibbutz, with the Israeli soldiers who helped to wrest it from the hands of Hamas, and with experts on Gaza, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the peace process. More than one family's odyssey, The Gates of Gaza is the intimate story of a tight-knit community and the broader saga of war, Occupation, and hostility between two national movements—a conflict that has not yet extinguished the enduring hope for peace.
More about the book: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/amir-tibon/the-gates-of-gaza/9780316580960/?lens=little-brown
Recording of our August 21, 2024 webinar with Dr. Gershon Baskin. This conversation was hosted by Madeleine Cereghino.
It is clear that people around the world– and the mediators sent to the table in Doha– want an agreement to stop the violence in Gaza and to bring the Israeli hostages home. But the general understanding of how to get from point A (calling for a deal) to point B (getting the Israeli government and Hamas to agree to a deal) remains murky. To shed some light on the circumstances surrounding this round of negotiations, we sat down with Dr. Gershon Baskin, a veteran peace activist and longtime researcher of the Israel/Palestine conflict and peace process.
Recording of our August 7, 2024 webinar with Lior Amihai. This conversation was hosted by Madeleine Cereghino.
Our Director of Government Relations, Madeleine Cereghino, sat down with Lior Amihai, the executive director of our sister organization, Shalom Achshav. Our colleagues there recently released a report detailing what they call the Israeli government’s “Annexation Revolution.”
Since October 7th, the Israeli government has launched a massive annexation effort– displacing Palestinians, expanding existing settlements, and doubling the resources available to settlements– “legalizing” more than 70 illegal outposts along the way. Under Netanyahu and Smotrich’s governance, emboldened settlers have essentially been granted carte blanche for land seizure, crop and livestock destruction, and violent altercations with Palestinians– all with minimal consequences.
Lior Amihai is the executive director of Peace Now. Before taking on this position, he was Executive Director of Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights organization that focuses on violations of Palestinians’ human rights in the West Bank. Prior to that, he was the co-director of Peace Now’s Settlement Watch project.
In this episode of PeaceCast, Maxxe Albert-Deitch is joined by APN's Director of Government Relations, Madeleine Cereghino, for a discussion of PM Netanyahu's DC visit. The discussion covers PM Netanyahu's address to a joint session of Congress, that speech's implications, and the general optics of the PM's DC visit.
Recording of our July 25, 2024 webinar with Rebecca Abou-Chedid. This conversation was hosted by Hadar Susskind.
Hadar Susskind and Rebecca Abou-Chedid analyze Netanyahu’s visit to DC (and his address to Congress on July 24th). They delve into the impact on American and international politics, the American Jewish community, and the Arab American community.
Rebecca Abou-Chedid serves on the board of directors of the IMEU Policy Project, Anera, the Foundation for Middle East Peace, and SEED for Change. Rebecca also served for five years as co-chair of the board of directors of Just Vision. She is a partner in the Projects group at Norton Rose Fulbright and previously served as a law clerk in the Executive Office for Immigration Review at the US Department of Justice, as National Political Director at the Arab American Institute, and the Director of Outreach at the New America Foundation’s Middle East Task Force.
Ten brave New Story Leadership alumni - Muslim, Jewish, and Christian - from Israel, Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, decided to move forward together in the aftermath of October 7th. First, the group negotiated and crafted a joint statement calling for an immediate ceasefire and hostage release. But they also realized that this was not nearly enough.
After months of research, discussion and an intense week together in Geneva, these alumni-- the Phoenix Ten-- negotiated and drafted the Phoenix Plan. In this episode of PeaceCast, we spoke with some of these peacebuilders about what the plan is and what their vision for a peaceful future looks like.
Learn more about NSL and the Phoenix Plan: https://www.newstoryleadership.org/
Make a contribution to APN: https://peacenow.org/donate
Recording of our June 20, 2024 webinar with Aziz Abu Sarah and Maoz Inon. This conversation was hosted by Hadar Susskind and Maxxe Albert-Deitch.
Aziz Abu Sarah and Maoz Inon feel the loss and pain of October 7th and the carnage in Gaza that has followed especially keenly: both have lost family to the conflict.
Since October 7th, the two have appeared on various international forums regarding their partnership in establishing peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Most recently, they traveled together to Verona, Italy to meet Pope Francis and share their vision for the future: one where Israelis and Palestinians can move forward and live side by side.
Aziz Abu Sarah is a Palestinian peacebuilder, entrepreneur, and international speaker. He is the co-founder of InterAct International and MEJDI Tours, and the former executive director of the Center for World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University.
Maoz Inon is an Israeli social entrepreneur and peace activist. He has founded several tourism initiatives in Israel and in the Middle East, including the Fauzi Azar Inn and Abraham Hostel and Tour brands.
Harvey Price is the founder of the Peace Drums Project, an organization that connects children of multiple faiths by having them play together in a steel drum band. In this episode of PeaceCast, Maxxe Albert-Deitch speaks with Harvey about steel drums as an instrument of peace and the logistics of running a people-to-people music-oriented peacebuilding program in Israel and Palestine in the current challenging times.
Recording of our May 22, 2024 webinar, with Anat Saragusti. This conversation was hosted by Naomi Paiss.
“The media” has come to mean many different things– broadcasters, social media, a euphemistic descriptor for spreaders of misinformation, or simply the news. But in the haze of war in Gaza and protests in the U.S., the media has itself become a source of polarization and debate. To analyze why coverage seems to slant one way or another politically, how nationalism and government disinformation find their way into the newsroom, and how journalists source their reports, we spoke with one of Israel’s foremost media experts.
Anat Saragusti is perhaps best-known for her work as a print and broadcast journalist and her documentary photography. She worked as a reporter for Channel 2, the first and leading commercial TV station in Israel, and is among the founders of Ta Ha'Itonaiyot (a group of leading Israeli women with media orientation) and Merkaz Media Nashim (Gender Media Center). She is also a dedicated advocate for peacebuilding work and human rights activism.
Recording of an APN webinar from May 2, 2024.
A conversation between APN's President and CEO Hadar Susskind and Senator Chris Van Hollen. We discussed the role of Congress in shaping US-Middle East policy and how conversations about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have changed on Capitol Hill. Senator Van Hollen is a Congressional champion for peace and justice.
Sandy Tolan is the author of The Lemon Tree, which is a widely known microhistory of the Israel-Palestine conflict, and Children of the Stone, which focuses on one Palestinian’s dream to build a music school in the midst of the Occupation. He’s also a journalism professor and an award-winning radio and print journalist. We spoke with Sandy about his books, the protests currently springing up at college campuses across the country, and generally, what it's like to be a journalist with a strong background on Israel/Palestine issues in the current climate.
Make a contribution to APN: https://peacenow.org/donate
Recording of an APN webinar, April 17th 2024.
Over the last few weeks, the subject of humanitarian aid has dominated conversations about the Gaza War. Headlines depict aid trucks being stopped or blocked altogether from entering Gaza and global experts warning that Gaza is on the verge of famine with Northern Gaza likely already experiencing famine. Some individuals and organizations are still managing to offer food and support, providing some measure of relief. To discuss the situation on the ground and the logistics of providing aid, we spoke with Shachar Zahavi, the founder of SmartAid: an international aid agency that leverages technologies to enhance humanitarian efforts worldwide.
In addition to his role at SmartAid, Shachar Zahavi was the founder and Chairperson at IsraAID, where he served as Executive Director for 16 years. There, he spearheaded the organization's global strategy, overseeing its expansion and operations in over 50 countries for both disaster relief and long-term sustainable programs. Shachar is also credited with co-authoring in-depth research on Israel's foreign aid and its impact in the context of foreign government relationships.
Make a contribution to APN: https://peacenow.org/donate
After 18 years at APN, our VP for Public Affairs Ori Nir has retired. He is widely known as a go-to expert on issues of Middle East peace and conflict, as well as for his voice and empathetic perspective. In this episode, hosted by Maxxe Albert-Deitch, Ori looks back on his career and the general state and trajectory of the peace movement.
We’re sending Ori off b'hatzlacha, bil tawfiq, and good luck for the next stage of his journey.
Make a contribution to APN: https://peacenow.org/donate
Recording of a February 22nd APN webinar.
Recently, Shalom Achshav released their 2023 settlement report. Their findings were disturbing even by the standards of the actions of Netanyahu’s far-right extremist government. Under the cover of the Gaza war, conditions in the West Bank have quietly but dramatically shifted for the worse. We have seen a record number of plans for new construction, minimal law enforcement against illegal settler activity, substantial budgets for expanding settlements and outposts, and, most significantly, almost unconditional political support from the government for settlers, even in cases involving violence against Palestinians.
To discuss these alarming updates, we spoke with someone on the front lines of observing and analyzing settlement activity. Hagit Ofran is the co-director of Shalom Achshav’s Settlement Watch program, and is widely recognized as Israel’s foremost expert on Israeli settlements.
On February 26th, we met with Dr. Khalil Shikaki to discuss current events in Israel and Palestine.
Recording of a February 22nd APN webinar
John Lyndon is the Executive Director of ALLMEP the Alliance for Middle East Peace, the largest network of Israeli and Palestinian peace-building organizations. ALLMEP brings together 170 organizations, both groups that advance a shared society inside Israel and cross-border Israeli and Palestinian groups that work to resolve the conflict between the two peoples.
Recording of a January 23rd 2024 APN webinar.
Recording of a January 18th 2024 APN webinar.
A recording of a January 4th 2024 APN webinar.
Yonatan Zeigen is the son of Vivian Silver, the iconic Isreali peace activist, who was murdered on October 7th in her kibbutz, Be'eri. After his mother's death, Yonatan quit his job to (again) become a peace activist. His headshot was taken by Sandra Mehl.
Ori's impressions from a three-week visit to Israel.
Write to Ori: onir@peacenow.org
Impressions from a Peace Now volunteering action at the Gaza border community that suffered the heaviest toll on October 7th.
A recording of a November 30th APN webinar.
Dave Harden and Larry Garber are former directors of the West Bank and Gaza office of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). In this episode, they discuss the challenges of addressing the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip and the rebuilding of Gaza after the war ends.
Contact Ori: onir@peacenow.org
Donate to APN: https://peacenow.org/donate
Ideological settlers are seriously talking about plans to resettle the Gaza Strip, to re-establish Gush Katif and turn back the clock on the 2005 disengagement, which they perceive as a national trauma. Eyal Lurie Pardes, a visiting fellow at Washington's Middle East Institute, discusses this matter.
Eyal's article on this topic in the Forward: https://forward.com/opinion/568553/israel-settler-movement-gaza-reoccupy/
Eyal's article on the Israeli government's curtailing the freedom of expresion during the Gaza war: https://www.mei.edu/publications/amid-gaza-war-palestinian-citizens-israel-feel-target-witch-hunt
Contact Ori: oir@peacenow.org
Donate to APN: https://peacenow.org/donate
A recording of an APN November 9th webinar with Hagit Ofran and Yonatan Mizrachi, the co-directors of Peace Now's Settlement Watch Project.
Arnon Avni, an Israeli cartoonist and graphic designer, is a member of kibbutz Nirim, near the Gaza border. He is a longtime peace activist with Peace Now, Israel’s preeminent peace movement. On October 7th 2023, he hid in his home’s bomb shelter with his wife and two grandchildren, escaping the terrorist attack. Five people were killed in Nirim that day. Others were kidnapped to Gaza. Despite the shock and the pain and the grief, Avni still believes in peace and is determined to pursue it.
Support APN: https://peacenow.org/donate
Contact Ori: onir@peacenow.org
This episode’s guest is Dr. Michael Robbins of Princeton University. He is the co-author of an article that was published on October 26th 2023 in Foreign Affairs, titled What Palestinians really think of Hamas.
Dr. Robbins is the director and co-principal investigator of the Arab Barometer.
Link to the article: https://www.foreignaffairs.com/israel/what-palestinians-really-think-hamas
Link to the Arab Barometer: https://www.arabbarometer.org/
Write to Ori: onir@peacenow.org
Recording of an October 11th 2023 APN webinar with Strategic expert Yossi Alpher.
Recording of a September 28th 2023 APN webinar with Haaretz's diplomatic correspondent Amir Tibon.
Recording of a September 21st 2023 APN webinar with Dr. Dahlia Scheindlin.
Dr. Arnon Degani, a scholar who focuses on the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the producer of a Hebrew language podcast on the Oslo process, comes back to PeaceCast for a deeper dive into the topic on the 30th anniversary of the Oslo agreements. Arnon was our guest a year ago on episode # 255. contact Ori: onir@peacenow.org
Recording of an August 31rd APN webinar with Letty Cottin Pogrebin, discussing her new book.
Amos Guiora is a professor of law at the S.J. Quinney College of Law, the University of Utah. He is a dual citizen of the United States and Israel, and in the past few months has become very active in Israel’s pro-democracy protest movement, both in the US and Israel.
Here are links to the two articles he mentions in this episode, published in The Hill:
And here is a link to the University of Utah College of Law’s Bystander Initiative, which Prof. Guiora founded and runs: https://sjquinney.utah.edu/news-articles/new-initiative-studies-ecosystem-of-abuse/
Recording of an August 14th APN webinar. Shahira Shalabi is the Co-Deputy CEO for Programs of the Abraham Initiatives, where she runs the mixed cities program. Before joining the Abraham Initiatives, she served as the Deputy Mayor of Haifa, was a member of the Haifa city council, and was among the founders of the Palestinian feminist movement in Israel.
Adam Rasgon, a journalist specializing in covering Palestinian affairs, is the co-author of a recent Foreign Policy profile of Hussein Al-Sheikh, the chief assistant of the Palestinian Authority's President Mahoud Abbas. He is also the chief PA's liaison to Israel. In this episode he discusses the story he co-authored with the New York Times' Aaron Boxerman.
Link to the Foreign Policy story: https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/07/31/palestine-hussein-al-sheikh-nationalism-fatah-west-bank-palestinian-authority-israel/
Contact Ori: onir@peacenow.org
Donate to APN: https://peacenow.org/donate
Recording of a July 31st APN webinar with Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.
Albanese's new report is available here: https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/sessions-regular/session53/advance-versions/A_HRC_53_59_AdvanceUneditedVersion.pdf
A recording of a July 24th APN webinar to discuss the repercussions of the Isaeli government's assault on democracy.
Sally Abed, a social activist, and Dina Kraft, a journalist and author, are the anchors of Groundwork, a successful podcast co-sponsored by the New Israel Fund and the Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP). In this episode they talk about the second season of their podcast.
Link to Groundwork: https://groundworkpodcast.com/
Links to past PeaceCast episodes that featured Salli and Dina: - https://peacenow.libsyn.com/2001-introducing-groundwork - https://peacenow.libsyn.com/100-accentuating-the-positive-with-dina-kraft - https://peacenow.libsyn.com/232-standing-together
Contact Ori: onir@peacenow.org
A recording of a July 10th 2023 webinar with Peace Now's Executive Director Lior Amihai.
APN intern Rochelle Berman spent her gap year in the West Bank, observing occupation friction points. In this episode, she reflects on this unique experience.
A recording of a June 29th 2023 APN webinar with Hady Amr, the US Special Representative for Palestinian Affairs.
A recording of a June 16th 2023 APN webinar.
Prof. Daniel Bar-Tal is one of the world's leading experts on intractable condlicts. In his new book, Sinking into the Honey Trap - The Case of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Bar-Tal lays out his analysis of Israeli society's attitude toward its conflict with the Palestinians. The book is available on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Sinking-into-Honey-Trap-Israeli-Palestinian/dp/1637237162.
Write to Ori onir@peacenow.org
Donate to APN: https://peacenow.org/donate
A recording of a June 5th 2023 APN webinar.
On the 56th anniversary of the Six Day War, which marks the beginning of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, this episode features a small story that may inspire some hope for ending the occupation, for Isreali-Palestinian peace and reconciliation. This episode's guest is Yair Barak, who at the time of the war was a reserves soldier in the IDF and participated in the fighting in Jerusalem. He recently returned to the Muslim Waqf in Jerusalem's Old City a key to the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, which he took during the war, 56 years ago. His story was recently featured in a Haaretz magazine piece by Nir Hasson.
This episode is a recording of an APN May 15th 2023 webinar with Ori Givati of Breaking the Silence on the high tech programs the Isreali military uses to surveille Palestinians.
This episode is a recording of a May 3rd 2023 APN webinar with Dr. Shikma Bressler, one of the chief leaders of Israel's protest movement.
Dr. Rob Geist Pinfold is a Lecturer at Durham University's School of Government and International Affairs in the United Kingdom. His new book is titled Understanding Territorial Withdrawal - Israeli Occupations and Exits. It analyzes Israel’s withdrawals from occupied land, as well as its non-withdrawals. The book is available on Amazon here and on Oxford University Press here.
This episode is a recording of an April 17th APN webinar with Palestinian political scientist and pollster Khalil Shikaki.
Ali Abu Awwad is the Co-founder & General Manager of Taghyeer (Change), a Palestinian organization that leads a national nonviolence grassroots movement in the West Bank. It strives to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict based on freedom, dignity, and security for all. Abu Awwad is one of Palestine’s most prominent nonviolence activists. This episode is an edited version of a talk he gave at Washington DC’s Busboys and Poets’ Peace Café on April 4th 2023. It was produced in cooperation with the Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP), of which Taghyeer is a member organization.
Taghyeer’s website: https://www.taghyeerpal.ps/
ALLMEP’s website: https://www.allmep.org/
Contact Ori: onir@peacenow.org
Assaf Adiv is a longtime activist in the field of Palestinian labor rights. He is the Executive Director of MAAN Workers Association, a nonprofit that functions as a labor union. It works to advocate for and safeguard the rights of Palestinians who work in Israel and in Israeli West Bank settlements. Maan's website: https://eng.wac-maan.org.il/ Contact Ori: onir@peacenow.org
Palestine 1936 The Great Revolt and the Roots of the Middle East Conflict is the newly published book by Oren Kessler, an Israel-based author and journalist. In this conversation, Oren discusses his book, the Revolt, and their relevance today. The book is available here on Amazon.
This episode is a recording of a March 29th 2023 webinar with the executive director of Israel’s Peace Now movement, Lior Amihai. Before becoming Peace Now’s executive director last month, Lior served as the executive director of the Israeli human rights organization Yesh Din. Prior to his five years there, Lior co-headed Peace Now’s Settlement Watch project for almost six years. He holds a master’s degree in human rights studies from London’s University College. The webinar recording started a bit late, so a couple of minutes at the very beginning of the webinar were cut off. Peace Now’s web site: https://peacenow.org.il/en/ Donate: https://peacenow.org/donate
A recording of APN's March 1st webinar with New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman on the political crisis in Israel.
Newly released in English, Shuli Dichter's book Sharing the Promised Land: In Pursuit of Equality Between Jewish and Arab Citizens in Israel combines personal stories with a blueprint for true equal relations between Israeli Jews and Arabs. In this conversation he talks about his vision for Jewish-Arab realtions in Israel and explains the concept of "civic Zionism."
Contact Ori
This episode is a recording of a Februry 14th 2023 APN webinar with three of the organizers of the pro-democracy Israeli protest movement: Limor Moyal, Nery Life-Choma and Offir Gutelzon.
Janet Aviad was among the founders of Israel's Peace Now movement. 40 years ago, she stood next to Emil Grunzweig, a leading Peace Now activist, when he was killed by a right-wing Israeli at the end of a Peace Now demonstraton. In this episode, she talks about the event and the long shadow it cast on Israeli public life. Donate to APN: https://peacenow.org/donate
Contact Ori: onir@peacenow.org
Yara Amayra is a young Palestinian civil society activist and opinion leader.
This episode features her conversation with APN's strategic communications maven Maxxe Albert-Deitch and APN intern Eliza Schloss.
Noa Shusterman is the Israel-Palestinian Research Program Coordinator at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) Israel's leading think tank. In this episode, she talks about the memorandum she co-authored with Udi Dekel, proposing a path for the government of Israel to address the transition in Palestinisn leadership.
The report, The Day After Abbas: Strategic Implications for Israel, is available here: https://www.inss.org.il/publication/the-day-after-abu-mazen/
Contact Ori: onir@peacenow.org
Donate to APN: https://peacenow.org/donate
A recording of an APN January 18th 2023 webinar with Kenneth Roth.
Recording of a January 9th 2023 webinar with Noa Sattath, the executive director of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI). Sponsored jointly by APN and the New Israel Fund.
Said Arikat, the Washington correspondent of the Palestinian daily newspaper Al-Quds, recently learned that his Twitter account has been suspended. In this episode, Ori discusses this odd experience with Said and explores with him what it’s like to be a correspondent for a Palestinian news organization in Washington.
Listen to our 2019 conversation with Said Arikat and Amir Tibon: https://peacenow.libsyn.com/73-covering-the-conflict-from-dc
Contact Ori: onir@peacenow.org
Donate to APN: https://peacenow.org/donate
A recording of a Decenber 22nd 2022 webinar with the leaders of three Israeli anti-occupation organizations: Shaqued Morag of Peace Now, Jessica Montell of Hamoked, and Avner Gvaryahu of Breaking the Silence.
Recording of APN's December 9th 2022 webinar with Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer.
Alon Schwarz is the director of the newly released documentary film Tantura. In this episode he discussess his film and what he hopes it will accomplish.
Tantura's web site: https://www.tantura-film.com/
Contact Ori: onir@peacenow.org Donate to APN: https://peacenow.org/donate
A recording of a November 22 webinar with Eric Alterman on his new book, We Are Not One: A History of America’s Fight Over Israel.
Recording of a webinar analyzing of Israel’s November 1st Knesset elections. The webinar took place on Friday, November 4th. It featured pollster and political analyst Dahlia Scheindlin In a conversation with Libby Lenkinsky, Vice President for Public Engagement at the New Israel Fund, J Street’s President Jeremy Ben-Ami, and Americans for Peace Now President and CEO Hadar Susskind.
Isaac Zablocki is the director of the Other Film Festival, which will be launched on November 3rd 2022 in New York. In this episode, he talks about several of the films that evolve around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict which are featured in this year's festival.
For more information and registration: https://www.otherisrael.org/
A recording of an APN October 26th 2022 webinar with Haaretz journalist Allison Kaplan Sommer, less than a week before Israel's general elections.
Eric Axelman is a film director and producer. His new documentary, Israelism, features young American Jews who were raised to defend the state of Israel, but when they went there, what they saw on the ground shocks and deeply disturbed them, and motivated them to become activists against Israel’s occupation and in support of Palestinian rights. Through their stories, the film examines the deepening divide over Israel within the American Jewish community.
Israelism's web site: https://www.israelismfilm.com/
Contac Ori: onir@peacenow.org
Donate to APN: https://peacenow.org/donate
This episode is a recording of an October 19th 2022 webinar with the founder and president of the Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP), Avi Meyerstein on the special congressional initiaive to fund Israeli-Palestinian people-to-people programs.
For the Mitvim report that Avi authored on the subject, click here
Micah Hendler is the founder and artistic director of the Jerusalem Youth Chorus. In this episode, he talks about the choir and about the power of music to bring people together. On the JYC’s web site, you can find more details and videos.
Dr. Arnon Degani is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Avraham Harman Research Center for Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and a Research fellow at the Israeli think tank MOLAD. He is also the creator of an 8-part Hebrew language podcast on the Oslo Accords. The podcast dispells some of the chief misconceptions about the Oslo Accords, their background and their impact. In thus episode, Dr. Degani discusses the objective of the podcast, which will hopefully be re-produced for the English speaking audience. For the Oslo Podcast (Hebrew) click here. To contact Ori write to: onir@peacenow.org To donate to APN: https://peacenow.org/donate
A recording of a September 21st 2022 webinar with Israeli journalist and political analyst Tal Schneider.
Chen Arieli is the Deputy Mayor of Tel Aviv. This episode is an audio recording of a September 8th 2022 webinar, in which Arieli spoke about her initiative of producing new maps for Tel Aviv public schools, which clearly delineate Israel's borders, including the Green Line that separates sovereign Israel from the occupied West Bank.
Click here for a transcript of this episode. Click here to donate to APN.
Dr. Bishara Bahbah, a Palestinian-American scholar, journalist and actiivist, is the author of a recent Haaretz arrticle titled "What Palestinians Really Think About the Holocaust." In this episode, Dr. Bahbah discusses his article and why he decided to publicly address such a sensitive topic.
A recording of a September 1, 2022 webinar with Dr. Yasser Abu Jamei and Dr. Suad Lubbad, mental health practitioners in the Gaza Strip.
Suad Lubbad is Project Officer at the American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA) in the Gaza Strip. The projects she leads mainly handle early childhood development, child health, nutrition, education, protection and hygiene. She holds a PhD in human development.
Yasser Abu Jamei is the director general of the Gaza Community Mental Health Program, a leading mental health services provider, and the cofounder of the Palestine Global Mental Health Network. His recent focus is an approach that integrates public health and human rights into mental health in the Gazan context.
Donate to APN: https://peacenow.org/donate
Write to Ori: onir@peacenow.org
This episode is an audio recording of an August 25 APN webinar with Ruth Messinger and Mik Moore to discuss their jointly authored article recently published by The Nation.
The article is available here: https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/democracy-middle-east-israel-palestinians/
A recording of an August 11th 2022 APN webinar featuring Joel Carmel of Breaking the Silence (BtS).
Link to BtS's report: https://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/inside/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Military_rule_testimony_booklet.pdf
Write to Ori: onir@peacenow.org
Donate to APN: https://peacenow.org/donate
This episoed is a rcording of an August 4th APN webinar with Israeli political analyst Chemi Shalev.
The Dove is an annual storytelling event that features young Israeli and Palestinian leaders, in Washington DC for the summer program of New Story Leadership. This July, The APN-NSL Dove is back after a 2-year COVID hiatus, with inspiring storytellers. The event took place on July 26th, 2022.
This episode is a recording of a July 14th 2022 webinar, sponsored by organizations that comprise the Progressive Israel Network (PIN), focusing on the ongoing crisis at the South Hebron Hills Palestinian villages of Masafer Yatta. Disussants are Israeli human rights activists.
Alexander (Alex) Winder, is a professor at Brown University focusing on Palestinian history, and the co-editor of the Jerusalem Quarterly, published by the Institute for Palestine Studies (IPS). Prof. Winder is one of the editors of the new Interactive Encyclopedia of the Palestine Question. In this episode, he introduces the project and explains its significance. The encyclopedia is here: https://www.palquest.org/ and the Institute of Palestine Studies is here: https://www.palestine-studies.org/
This is an audio recording of a July 6th 2022 webinar with Dana Mills, the acting executive director of Israel's Peace Now (Shalom Achshav) movement. A transcript of this webinar: https://peacenow.org/entry.php?id=39760#.YsbzpHbML84
Peace Now's report about the record of the first year of the Bennett-Lapid government in relation to settlement construction can be found here: https://peacenow.org.il/en/the-first-year-of-the-bennett-lapid-government
To donate to APN: https://peacenow.org/donate
This is a recording of a June 23rd 2022 webinar with the young members of APN's team to explore the ways in which young progressive American Jews are thinking, talking, and acting about Israel and its conflict with the Palestinians. Participating are APN's new Communications and Development Associate Maxxe Albert-Deitch, her predecessor Claire Davidson Miller, and our intern Eliana Blumberg, in conversation with APN’s Director of Government Relations, Madeleine Cereghino. For a transcript of this episode, click here.
This is a recording of a June 15th, 2022 webinar featuring Jessica Montell, the executive director of the Israel human rights organization Hamoked to discuss the new set of regulations issued by Israel's Ministry of Defense, governing the entry of foreign nationals into the West Bank and their residence in it.
The compendium of new regulations is available here. Hamoked's analysis of the new regulations available here. Hamoked's website is here.
For a transcript of this episode click here.
To contact Ori: onir@peacenow.org
To donate to APN: https://peacenow.org/donate
This episode is a recording of a June 7th 2022 in-person event in Washington DC with strategic affairs analyst Yossi Alpher regarding Israel’s existential challenges.
Yossi's new book is availablel here.
To contact Ori: onir@peacenow.org Donate to APN
The Israeli progressive organization Mehazkim put up billboards throughout Israel showing the Israeli and Palestinian flags and saying, "We were Meant to Live Together." One of them, near Tel Aviv, was ordered taken down by local authorities because it was deemed too offensive. Eran Nissan is with Mehazkim. In this conversation, he lays out the rationale behind the billboard campaign and addresses the reaction to it as a metaphor to current Israeli attitudes to the conflict with the Palestinians.
For a transcript of this episode click here.
Recording of a webinar with veteran Palestinian journalists Daoud Kuttab and Mohammed Daraghmeh on the challenges of covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a Palestinian journalist.
This episode is a recoring of a May 19th 2022 webinar with Dr. Dana Mills, the acting director of Shalom Achshav (Peace Now) on the Israeli peace movement currenrt efforts to curtail Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank.
Larry Garber is back from the West Bank, where he spent a month documenting the second round of the Palestinian municipal elections as a member of a Carter Center expert team.
The team’s report is here.
Contat Ori.
Recording of an April 21st APN webinar with Jerusalem expert Danny Seidemann on the tension in Jerusalem and beyond. Contact Ori: onir@peacenow.org Donate to APN: https://peacenow.org/donate
This episode is a tribute to longtime APN Board member Sidney (Sid) Topol, who passed away on March 30th, 2022. Sid was an icon of the US pro-Israel pro-peace movement.
The recordings of Sid, from September 2013 and April 2014, which served to edit this episode, were made by Aliza Becker for the American Jewish Peace Archive: An Oral History of Israeli-Palestinian Peace Activists, which she directs.
Recording of an April 5th, 2022 webinar with Stacy Burdett and Dan Kalik.
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This episode discusses the dramatic events of March 2002 and the violence of March 2022 and the twenty years that separate them. Our guest is Yossi Alpher, the Israeli strategic affairs expert, a prolific author and analyst, who has for many years been writing APN’s weekly analysis Hard Questions Tough Answers.
The conversation evolves around Yossi's new book, Death Tango: Ariel Sharon, Yasser Arafat and Three Fateful Days in March.
Yossi's new book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Death-Tango-Sharon-Yasser-Fateful/dp/1538162075/ref=sr_1_1?crid=9ZHTQCPV3Q8V&keywords=Death+Tango&qid=1648755342&s=books&sprefix=death+tango%2Cstripbooks%2C48&sr=1-1
Yossi's column discussing the book on APN's website: https://peacenow.org/entry.php?id=39288#.YkX2wyjMJD8
Contact Ori: onir@peacenow.org
Donate to APN: https://peacenow.org/donate
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