“For decades, U.S. presidents have sought to avoid the I-word, fearing it would needlessly antagonize Israel. Even President Jimmy Carter—perhaps the most pro-Palestinian occupant of the White House in 50 years—steered clear of using the word, though he did make it clear that Israel’s construction of Jewish settlements on land inhabited by Arabs before the 1967 Arab-Israeli War was ‘contrary to the Geneva Convention, that occupied territories should not be changed by the establishment of permanent settlements by the occupying power.’ ‘The use of ‘illegal’ was clearly an official expression of Carter administration policy, even if Carter didn’t shout out the word in a speech,’ according to Lara Friedman, the president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace. But Carter’s administration likely went further than any other U.S. administration in asserting the illegality of settlements. Friedman, who compiled a detailed modern history of presidential positions on settlements, said it was President Ronald Reagan who first proposed a freeze on new settlements in an effort to promote peace. Reagan, however, never characterized them as illegal. Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama issued calls for an end to Israel’s occupation of Arab lands seized since 1967—but didn’t call them illegal.”

“As Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, pointed out early in the Trump presidency, the administration’s policy appeared to be designed to roll back the clock to the 1980s, when the idea of a Palestinian state was a non-starter in Washington. It wouldn’t be altogether surprising to see the Trump administration, especially if it’s reelected, take further radical measures like re-designating the PLO a terrorist organization, in order to up the ante considerably. They have already taken steps to weaponize anti-Semitism through the law, to crack down on legitimate debate on college campuses, and to criminalize free speech actions like boycotting Israel.”

“As Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, pointed out early in the Trump presidency, the administration’s policy appeared to be designed to roll back the clock to the 1980s, when the idea of a Palestinian state was a non-starter in Washington. It wouldn’t be altogether surprising to see the Trump administration, especially if it’s reelected, take further radical measures like re-designating the PLO a terrorist organization, in order to up the ante considerably. They have already taken steps to weaponize anti-Semitism through the law, to crack down on legitimate debate on college campuses, and to criminalize free speech actions like boycotting Israel.”

Worth a Look: Lara Friedman, the president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, analyzes the significance of the Jewish vote in the 2020 election for the Arab Center Washington DC. Friedman notes the vast differences between what Jewish voters want and what Jewish political funders like Sheldon Adelson want, and pays attention to a lesser-known aspect of Jewish campaigning: the down-ballot. “Forcing Democrats to constantly fend off accusations of being anti-Israel or antisemitic siphons off campaigns’ time, energy, political capital and funds,” she writes.

The cynical among us might conclude, with Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding, that “peace between Israelis and Palestinians is not a consideration. It is just cosmetics.” The US administration’s earlier actions – endorsement of Israel’s West Bank settlements, moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, and cutting funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (which supports Palestinian refugees) – certainly suggest as much. As Lara Friedman, President of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, put it in 2018: “It’s very clear that the overarching goal is to eliminate the Palestinian refugees as an issue by defining them out of existence.” Kushner’s proposal does the same to the Palestinians as a whole and Palestine as a functioning entity.

Book recommendation from Lara Friedman, president, Foundation for Middle East Peace — Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine by Noura Erekat; Lords of the Land: The War Over Israel’s Settlements in the Occupied Territories by Idith Zertal and Akiva Eldar; Preventing Palestine: A Political History from Camp David to Oslo by Seth Anziska; Blind Spot: America and the Palestinians, from Balfour to Trump by Khaled Elgindy; The Accidental Empire by Gershom Gorenberg; Zealots for Zion: Inside Israel’s West Bank Settlement Movement by Robert I. Friedman; Dear Brothers: The West Bank Jewish Underground by Haggai Segal; The Yellow Wind by David Grossman

“In an immediate reaction to the Trump ‘Peace to Prosperity’ peace plan, Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, said, ‘There has been an idea out there propagated by various organizations called ‘peace through Israeli victory.’ The idea being, ‘We impose absolute defeat on the Palestinians, and when they realize they are utterly defeated, then they will accept whatever is given to them, and everyone can go and have a better life.’ That is the best description of where we are now.’ …we say, guilty as charged.”

…But Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, scoffed at the plan, saying in a Jewish Week interview: “If you don’t care about democracy and the rule of law, this is great. The entire thing is framed in condescending, racist tones. Anything they [Palestinians] get is a gift that can be conditioned and retracted at will. … What was presented today was a statement that says Israel has the right to keep a huge chunk of the West Bank, that Israel always had a right to it, and it laid out a conditional Palestinian state on some of the land.” She added that the map proposed by the plan shows “non-contiguous Palestinian areas surrounded on all sides by Israel. … And the U.S. laid down conditions for a state that no Palestinians would ever accept. They guarantee the Palestinians will reject them. And Trump said this was their last chance.”

As the Trump administration prepares to release its Israeli-Palestinian peace blueprint, DW speaks with a Middle East expert [FMEP’s Lara Friedman] who fears the plan will ignore the Palestinians at the expense of lasting peace.

Jewish Currents’ publisher Jacob Plitman said in an interview that the publication is also expanding its roster of writers in addition to Beinart, bringing on as contributing or staff writers Lara Friedman of the Foundation for Middle East Peace; Elisheva Goldberg, media director of the New Israel Fund and a former adviser to former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni; Joshua Leifer, an associate editor at socialist magazine Dissent; and Chicago-based writer Mari Cohen.