Americans for Peace Now (APN) delivered a petition signed by 15,962 people to the White House on July 6, moments before President Obama met with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.

The petition was a powerful statement that a large number of Americans who care about Israel also want settlement construction to stop.

And our petition got people’s attention. It made headlines in both the American and the Israeli press. Haaretz.com, the news site of Israel’s leading newspaper, made it its top headline as Obama and Netanyahu were meeting in the Oval Office.

The White House meeting was an important opportunity for President Obama to dispel the narrative that his advocacy for peace means that he is not “pro-Israel.” To the contrary, making progress towards a two-state solution is vital to Israel’s future.

Both President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu expressed a desire earlier this month to upgrade the indirect Israeli-Palestinian talks to direct negotiations by the end of September. Let’s hope that the two leaders – as well as the leaders of the Palestinian Authority – take the necessary steps to make that happen.

WWW.PEACENOW.ORG 202-408-9898 At the same time, negotiations cannot be disconnected from developments on the ground. Israeli settlement construction – before or after direct negotiations begin – will jeopardize the prospects for progress. Similarly, a failure by the Palestinian Authority to crackdown on violence or incitement would constitute a setback for peace.

As Americans who care about Israel and care about peace, we must be willing to speak out — as APN’s grassroots activists did in the July 6 petition — in support of actions that bring peace closer. We must also continue to support those who are actively in the Israeli peace camp.

We will have to press for progress on a number of fronts, as the July 8 New York Times editorial noted:

Mr. Obama is going to have to keep working hard to persuade Mr. Netanyahu that a peace deal with the Palestinians is also essential for Israel’s long-term security, the health of its democracy and its international standing – and not just something he has to try to mollify Washington.

Mr. Netanyahu promised after the July 6 meeting to take unspecified ‘concrete’ steps in the coming weeks to move the peace process along in a ‘robust way.’ He could start by committing to extend the moratorium on settlement construction past the Sept. 26 deadline and by outlining his plan for reaching a two-state solution.

President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority and his government also must do their part, doing more to discourage incitement against Israel – and seriously preparing to make the hard choices that peace will inevitably require.

In the coming months, we will post short articles in this newspaper to show how essential peace is for Israel’s existence. We welcome your feedback.

To learn more about APN’s work or get involved in the pursuit of peace for Israel, please visit our web site: www.peacenow.org.

This message is from Americans for Peace Now, America’s leading Jewish organization advocating for Israeli security through peace. It has been financed by a grant by Alan Kligerman.