(Beginning today, the last article posted will always be an opinion piece.)

❶ From INTERNATIONAL MIDDLE EAST MEDIA CENTER (IMEMC)
ARMY KIDNAPS FOUR CHILDREN IN OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, TWO IN HEBRON
June 28, 2015
Israeli soldiers kidnapped, late on Saturday and on Sunday at dawn, at least four Palestinian children after the army invaded various neighborhoods in occupied East Jerusalem. Soldiers also kidnapped two children near the southern West Bank city of Hebron.
____Media sources in Jerusalem said the soldiers invaded various neighborhoods in the occupied city, stormed and ransacked several homes, and kidnapped at least four children after assaulting them.
(More. . .)

❷ From PALESTINE NEWS NETWORK
ARAB LEAGUE CALLS FOR RELEASE OF PALESTINIAN DETAINEES HELD WITHOUT CHARGE
June 26, 2015
The regional organization, Arab League, has condemned acts of torture and ill-treatment of Palestinian prisoners at Israeli jails, calling for the release of all inmates who have been held without charge, Press TV reports.
____The Arab body, consisting of 22 member states, said Wednesday that Israel should release all Palestinian detainees who have been held hostage for extended periods of time without being able to defend themselves, including Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan. . .
____The bloc further called on the international community to take effective measures to help secure the release of Adnan as well as a spokesman for the group.
(More. . .)

❸ From MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
LAWYER: NO DEAL BETWEEN ISRAELI AUTHORITIES AND KHADER ADNAN
June 27, 2015
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — No deal has been reached between the Israeli authorities and Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan who on Saturday entered his 54th day on hunger strike, his lawyer said.
____”(Israel) is seeking to end Adnan’s hunger strike in a way that avoids them a feeling of crushing defeat,” the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society’s chief lawyer Jawad Bolous said at a press conference in Ramallah on Saturday.
____”On the other hand,” he added, “what Adnan seeks is very clear: either to be released or tried. . .
(More. . .)

❹ From +972 MAGAZINE ONLINE
A YEAR SINCE PROTESTS, DETAINED ASYLUM SEEKERS HINT AT NEW STRATEGY
Oren Ziv
June 27, 2015
[Introduction of one of the asylum seekers]. . . when hundreds of asylum seekers detainees in Holot decided to up and leave the detention facility and march toward the Egyptian border, demanding that they be allowed to leave Israel.
____They had lost hope of being recognized as refugees in Israel, they were unwilling to resign themselves to indefinite detention in the Israeli desert, and thought just maybe they could raise some international awareness. They hoped they could push the United Nations to address their refugee claims.
(More. . .) 

❺ From PALESTINECHRONICLE
IS BDS REPLACING IRAN AS ISRAEL’S BLACKMAIL CARD?
Alan Hart
Opinion
Jun 27 2015
My headline question was provoked by an Uri Avnery article with the headline “BDS, the new enemy”. After noting that Netanyahu’s whole career has been based on fear mongering and in recent years his promotion of fear of a nuclear-armed Iran, Avnery wrote this:
“But Netanyahu saw with growing anxiety that the Iranian threat was losing its edge. The US, so it seems, is about to reach an agreement with Iran, which will prevent it from achieving the Bomb… What to do?
“Looking around, three letters popped up: BDS. . .
(More. . .)

“DETENTION,” BY MAJID ABU GHOUSH
In my mind
the sea is wider
bluer

In my mind the
sun is warmer
kinder

In my mind
the roads are longer
they flow like water

In my mind
passion is painful
a bonfire of moths

the moon, like your eyes
(night and magic as they die)
yearns for morning:

a moon weary of night
of too much crying
drunken song and poetry

a theater of landmines
fencing life from death
the song veering

from relevance to insanity
the Universe
from which

you are ready
to be plucked
as am I
―translated by Ellen McAteer

Majid Abu Ghoush (b. Amwas) is a prolific poet, a member of the Secretariat of the General Union of Palestinian Writers, and a founding member of Poets Without Borders Palestine. (Reading one of his own poems.)
From A BIRD IS NOT A STONE: AN ANTHOLOGY OF CONTEMPORARY PALESTINIAN POETRY (Glasgow: Freight Books, 2014) –available From Amazon.com.
The book’s blog.
A year ago, 1,000 African asylum seekers marched out of the Holot detention facility toward the Egyptian border, hoping to draw the world’s attention to their plight. Since then, thousands have been pressured to leave Israel. As protests appear ineffectual, two asylum seekers discuss what comes next. (Photo by Activestills.org)