News Brief

Americans for Peace Now and the Israel Policy Forum are tentatively discussing a merger. JTA has learned that top representatives of both groups met in New York Tuesday to informally discuss merging into a single organization that would advocate for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and greater U.S, engagement in encouraging such an outcome. The outcome of Tuesday’s talk was that each organization’s board would consider in the near future whether to enter into more formal discussions. A factor leading to the meeting was that donors have indicated that a single group would raise more money. Brit Tzedek V’Shalom, the Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace, was involved in discussions leading up to the meeting, but its structure, with its emphasis on grassroots and autonomous regions, has frustrated any effort to join a single national group. People affiliated with both APN and IPF confirmed the meeting, which come in the context of wider discussions to set up a major group that would advocate for a two-state solution. Separately, Jeremy Ben-Ami, a Clinton administration policy adviser who now works for Fenton Communications, a Washington public relations giant, told JTA that the wider discussions were “not about a merger, it’s about something much bigger, bolder, new.” Ben-Ami said different configurations were under discussion at meetings that have been taking place monthly, and that no announcement was imminent. Ben-Ami, a member of APN’s board, knew of Tuesday’s meeting but did not attend.