A document recently published by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs entitled “Israeli Assistance Steps and Humanitarian Measures Towards the Palestinians,” reveals that the $50 million their congressional agents in Washington scrounged from the $200 million Palestinian aid package will go for the construction of high-tech processing terminals that will be located on the “separation lines” between Israel and Palestine. In other words, the money will be spent along the path of the Separation Wall that the Israelis have unilaterally constructed in the last two years and that lie within Palestinian territory. Read more about Israelis will use U.S. Tax Dollars on Illegal Border
After a month of speculation, the New York Times and the Washington Post ran stories on 21 April 2005 that the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee had finally seen the light and fired two of its top officials as a result of an FBI espionage investigation into its activities.� Though their lawyers were reported by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency declaring that the men had “not violated any U.S. law or AIPAC policy,” Steve Rosen, AIPAC’s policy director, and Keith Weissman, senior analyst on Iran, were let go.� Ha’aretz’s reporter compared the firings to removing a cancer and expected AIPAC to emerge healthy and intact.� Read more about AIPAC Finally Fires Two Employees
AIPAC has been taken aback by new Mideast resolutions. Last month the House and the Senate each passed their own resolutions expressing support for the Palestinian Authority in the wake of their successful presidential elections. The Washington Jewish Week reported that many on the Hill feel the Israel lobby was caught asleep on this one. The problem for the lobby was simple: popular support and optimism after the Palestinian presidential elections took the wind out of any possible grounds for raising opposition to the resolutions. Read more about AIPAC Losing this Fight
A delegation of concerned organizations and citizens met with State Department officials on February 17 to request an explanation of why there has been an official silence on the part of the U.S. Government over the mistreatment of Americans in Israel. During the meeting, they requested that the Department negotiate the release of American prisoners at the same time as Palestinians were being released by the Sharon government, as a significant gesture by Israel of its friendship with the American people. Read more about Organizations Confront State Department over Silence Accorded Israeli Mistreatment of U.S. Citizens
The Council for the National Interest and other concerned organizations will participate Thursday in a meeting at the Department of State regarding Israeli mistreatment of Palestinian American prisoners. Also on the agenda is the ongoing silence of the State Department in regard to Israeli detention and deportation of nonviolent American citizens seized in the occupied West Bank by Israeli security forces. The delegation Thursday will call for the release of some of the American prisoners being held by Israel. Read more about State Department to be Questioned on Silence regarding American Detainees in Israel
In a letter to President Bush, Eugene Bird, President of the Council for the National Interest, agreed with Jewish organizations, including Americans for Peace Now, in protesting the latest request for aid, a reported $180 million to help construct new “state of the art” checkpoints along the security wall separating Israelis and Palestinians. Read more about CNI Protests New Aid for Israeli Occupation
The modernization of checkpoints between Israel and the Palestinian Territories is now being ironically cast as a “humanitarian” project to be undertaken by the either the Israelis or the Palestinians as a way of improving the Palestinian quality of life and ease of communication. Needless to say, the American taxpayer is being asked to underwrite the cost. Read more about More on US Aid for Checkpoint Crossings
The FBI resumed its investigation of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the pro-Israel lobby in Washington, on December 1st when agents searched its offices for the second time in three months and served subpoenas on four senior AIPAC staff. Those subpeonaed are required to appear at a grand jury regarding the alleged acts of espionage involving a Pentagon employee and AIPAC. The man at the center of the investigation is Larry Franklin, an Iran analyst who works in the office of William Luti, who in turn is in charge of the Iran desk in Douglas Feith’s office. Read more about AIPAC Investigation Resumes After Hiatus
August 19th, 2004 — Both the New York Times and the Washington Post carried stories yesterday about the announcement in Tel Aviv that Israel’s Housing and Construction Ministry would build up to 1,000 new housing units in settlements in the West Bank. According to these sources as well as Ha’aretz, the Israeli daily, 604 units will be built in Betar Elite and 141 in Maaleh Adumim, which lie in the area of East Jerusalem, and 204 housing units will be built in Ariel and 42 in Karnei Shomron, lying in the West Bank itself. So why does the U.S. administration still pretend that the Road Map still exists? Read more about New Housing Units Sanctioned by Israel Show How Dead the Road Map Is
A new Zogby International poll commissioned by CNI found that half of all likely American voters agree that Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry “should adopt an entirely new policy, different from the present administration, towards Israel.” The poll, conducted during the Democratic Convention, showed that 51% of likely voters somewhat or strongly agreed that a policy change was necessary. Only 34% strongly or somewhat disagreed. The number who supported Kerry adopting a new policy towards Israel was even higher among Democrats: 70% of Democrats, Kerry’s voter base, supported such a change. Read more about Americans Want a New Policy Towards Israel
