❶ From MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
ISRAELI FORCES WOUND 8 AT FUNERAL OF 53-YEAR-OLD KILLED THURSDAY
July 23, 2015
HEBRON (Ma’an) — Israeli forces injured eight Palestinians in the occupied West Bank town of Beit Ummar Thursday as clashes erupted after the funeral of Falah Abu Maria, who was shot dead in his home at dawn during an Israeli arrest raid, witnesses said.
____Spokesman for a popular committee in the Hebron-area town, Mohammad Ayyad Awad, said that Israeli forces fired rubber-coated steel bullets and tear gas at funeral attendees.
____The mourners received light to medium injuries, and three were transferred to hospitals in Hebron for treatment, he said.
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(Background) ISRAELI FORCES KILL 53-YEAR-OLD PALESTINIAN NEAR HEBRON, INJURE SONS. July 23, 2015.
(More. . .) PALESTINIAN FACTIONS DECRY STRING OF KILLINGS BY ISRAELI FORCES
(More. . .) MARTYR ABU MARIA, SUMMED UP THE SUFFERING OF HIS PEOPLE

❷ From PALESTINE NEWS & INFORMATION AGENCY – WAFA
ISRAEL ARRESTS 20 PALESTINIANS IN WEST BANK, JERUSALEM
July 24, 2015
HEBRON, July 23, 2015 (WAFA) – At least 20 Palestinians were arrested on Thursday by the Israeli army during predawn and night raids across the West Bank districts and in Jerusalem, according to local and security sources.
____In Hebron district, Israeli forces stormed the town of Dahiriya at night and arrested three Palestinians, identified as Khalil Jabarin, 30, Mujahed Jabarin, 45, and Ayesh Awaysah, 42.
____Israeli soldiers also raided the village of al-Majd, west of Hebron, and arrested Majed Amr, a local Palestinian, and his two sons, Amjad and Ashraf.
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❸ From PALESTINE NEWS NETWORK (PNN)
YOUTH DIES OF WOUNDS AFTER SHOT BY ISRAELI SOLDIERS
July 22, 2015
Mohammed Alawna, 21, this morning was announced dead after he was shot by Israeli occupation forces (IOF) during clashes in Burqin village near Jenin.
____According to security sources, Mohammed was shot in the chest. He was rushed to the Khalil Suleiman Governmental Hospital for treatment, underwent surgery, and was later announced dead of his wounds.
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❹ From MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
ISRAEL ADVANCES 1,065 SETTLEMENT HOUSING UNITS
July 24, 2015
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israel’s Civil Administration advanced plans for the development of 1,065 housing units in eight different settlements throughout occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank, a settlement watchdog announced Thursday.
____The civil administration — Israel’s governing body for the occupied West Bank — approved 15 plans for various planning stages in the settlements at hand, Peace Now said.
____Approved plans included legalizing 228 already existing housing units that have been completed in settlements, as well as 541 new housing units yet to be constructed.
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❺ From +972 MAGAZINE
COURT DENIES EQUAL RIGHTS TO PALESTINIAN WORKERS IN ISRAELI INDUSTRIAL ZONE
Haggai Matar
July 23, 2015
Israel’s National Labor Court rejected an appeal by Palestinian workers from the Nitzanei Shalom Industrial Zone this past Sunday, ruling that they will continue to be subject to the Jordanian labor laws of 1967, rather than Israeli laws.
____The three appellants — Abdel Hamid Yahiye, Ahmed Shayib and Mujhad Harsha — sued their former employers in Tel Aviv’s Regional Labor Court in 2010 after they were fired for demanding retroactive payment from their employer.
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❻ Opinion
From JADALIYYA (ARAB STUDIES INSTITUTE)
PLANNING UNDER OCCUPATION: ELASTIC GEOGRAPHIES AND ‘AREA C’
Lamya Hussain
July 16, 2015
In recent years there has been growing concern about Israel’s planning regime and its operations across the West Bank. In particular, organizations have expressed their apprehension towards the growing number of demolitions, eviction orders, and restrictions in Area C. According to the 1995 Oslo Accords, Area C of the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) amounts to an estimated sixty-two percent of the West Bank. It is rich in land and water, and critical to the sustainable long-term development of a future viable Palestinian state. Israeli restrictions on planning and development in Area C have created systemic poverty and instability across local Palestinian communities, undermining developmental possibilities. Additionally, Israel has tightened its military control of Area C of late, and increased restrictions on the delivery of international aid and humanitarian assistance. This process has produced new threats for an already vulnerable population, and brings into question both the legitimacy and responsibility of Israel as an occupying power.
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“I CLASP YOUR HANDS,” BY TAWFIQ ZAYYAD
I call upon you
And clasp your hands.
I kiss the dust under your shoe
And say: I’ll lay down my life for you,
Grant you the gift of eyesight in my eyes.
The warm love in my heart I give to you,
For the tragedy I live
Is but mu share in your larger tragedy.

I call upon you
And clasp your hands.
I never stooped in my country
Nor will I ever be humbled.
Orphaned, naked and barefoot
I confronted my oppressors,
Carrying my blood in my palms.
I have never lowered my flags,
And have always tended the grass over my ancestors’ graves.
I call upon you, and clasp your hands!

From THE PALSESTINIAN WEDDING: A BILINGUAL ANTHOLOGY OF CONTEMPORARY PALESTINIAN RESISTANCE POETRY. Ed. and Trans. A. M. Elmessiri. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2011. Reprint from Three Continents Press, Inc., 1982. Available from Palestine Online Store.
Tawfik Zayyad (Tawfiq Ziad) was a Palestinian poet, writer, scholar and politician. He was born in Nazareth in 1929 and died on July 5, 1994 in a dreadful car crash while on his way to meet Yasser Arafat in Jericho after the Oslo agreements. He participated in Palestinian political life in occupied Palestine, was elected mayor of Nazareth, and served as a member of the Israeli Knesset.
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