Month: August 2015

“. . . and homelessness has worn me out. . .” (Tawfiq Sayigh)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
Inside Hawara checkpoint, in the occupied West Bank, Palestine. Photo by Wikimedia Commons.
Inside Hawara checkpoint, in the occupied West Bank, Palestine. Photo by Wikimedia Commons.

❶ THE PALESTINIAN INFORMATION CENTER
IOF  ROLLS  INTO  WESTERN  NABLUS,  TIGHTENS  MILITARY  GRIP
August 31, 2015
NABLUS ― The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) at noontime Sunday rolled into western Nablus city, in the northern West Bank, and imposed tight security measures around the area.
____Eye-witnesses said an IOF patrol stormed western Nablus city and were deployed on the main road to An-Najah University.
____The IOF patrol broke into Ourata, to the south east of Nablus, and sealed off the main road to the village before they blocked the movement of Palestinian vehicles and passengers out of and into the area.
____The IOF further closed the Hawara checkpoint and Beit Furik, where Palestinian vehicles and IDs were meticulously inspected.
More. . .

❷ INTERNATIONAL MIDDLE EAST MEDIA CENTER (IMEMC)
ARMY  SUMMONS  FIVE  PALESTINIANS  FROM  JENIN,  DEMOLISH  STRUCTURES  NEAR  JERUSALEM
August 31, 2015
Israeli soldiers invaded, on Monday morning, the villages of Rommana and Zabbouba, west of the northern West Bank city of Jenin, stormed homes and searched them, and handed five Palestinians military warrants for interrogation in the Salem military base. Soldiers also demolished fifteen structures near Jerusalem.
____Media sources said the summoned Palestinians . . . were all summoned after the soldiers invaded their homes, and violently searched them.
[. . . .]
____In related news, soldiers invaded Jaba’ town, northeast of occupied East Jerusalem, and demolished fifteen sheds and structures, belonging to Bedouin families of the al-‘Ara’ra family. Most of the demolished structures were installed in 1975 and 1976.
More. . .

❸ PALESTINE NEWS & INFORMATION AGENCY – WAFA.
ISRAELI  ARMY  PREVENTS  REHABILITATION  OF  HEBRON  ARCHAEOLOGICAL  SITE
August 31, 2015
HEBRON – Israeli army and Jewish settlers on Monday hindered ongoing renovation work at an archeological site in the town of Bani Na’im, to the east of Hebron, according to local sources.
____The sources told WAFA an Israeli army force accompanied by staff from the so-called Israeli Civil Administration, as well as Jewish settlers, broke into the area and ordered all the workers at the site to leave. The site consists of an archeological house, revered by local Palestinians as Maqam en-Nabi Yaqin (Shrine of Prophet Yaqin).
[. . . .]
____Mahmoud Manasrah, mayor of Bani Na’im, told WAFA that the rehabilitation of the site, which overlooks the Dead Sea, is . . . part of an effort to protect local cultural, religious and historical heritage, he said.
More. . .
Related. . . 

❹ Human interest
MIDDLE EAST MONITOR (MEM)
CAMPAIGN  FOR  PALESTINIAN  REFUGEE  SELLING  PENS  IN  BEIRUT  GOES  VIRAL
August 29, 2015
An internet campaign to raise funds for a Palestinian refugee filmed selling pens in Beirut with his daughter asleep on his shoulder has raised more than $100,000 within hours. The campaign went viral on its first day.
____Abdul Halim Attar, who fled from the Syrian regime’s bombardment of the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp on the outskirts of Damascus, started selling pens in order to feed himself and his two children, Abdelillah, aged 9, and his daughter Reem, aged 4.
____An Icelandic man who helps to run Conflict News and a Lebanese broadcaster Tweeted Attar’s image hoping to raise just $5,000 to help him start a new life.
More. . .

The Telegraph: Abdul Halim Attar, a Palestinian-Syrian with two children, was reportedly living in the besieged Damascus refugee quarter of Yarmouk before fleeing to Lebanon three years ago Photo: @GissiSim
The Telegraph: Abdul Halim Attar, a Palestinian-Syrian with two children, was reportedly living in the besieged Damascus refugee quarter of Yarmouk before fleeing to Lebanon three years ago Photo: @GissiSim

❺ Opinion
ALTERNATIVE INFORMATION CENTER (AIC)
SETTING  THE  REGION  ON  FIRE
Eli Aminov
August 31, 2015
(The current situation is reminiscent of Israeli and American actions on the eve of the 1973 Middle East war. Eli Aminov explains.)
Netanyahu’s war against the Iran deal reached a new level last week: Israel began to heat up the northern border, together with feeding the media, which feared such a move, conspiracies and plots appropriate to spy novels from the Cold War period. The dangerous battle began last week, when Netanyahu and his defense minister toured the Golan border, had their picture taken and declared absolute preparedness for anything bad coming from the north. The next day Alex Fishman, the military and security correspondent of Yedioth Ahronot, wrote: “it appears we have those who would not object should a few rockets fly here from Lebanon or Syria, that the border would heat up a bit, perhaps fighting for a few days – just so it will be possible to put this on the Iranians and prove to the world how dangerous the Iranian threat is to the region, especially following the nuclear agreement. But what can we do, the Iranians and Hizbullah are not dishing up the goods” (Yedioth Ahronot, 19 August 2015).
More. . .
Related. . .

“LONGING,”  BY  TAWFIQ  SAYIGH  (1923-1971)
My feet are torn,
and homelessness has worn me out.
Park benches have left their marks
on my ribs.
Policemen followed me
with their suspicious looks.
I dragged myself from place to place,
destitute except for
day-long memories of a home
that yesterday, only yesterday,
was mine,
and except for evening dreams
of my dwelling there again.

Sulaiman, Khalid A. PALESTINE  AND  MODERN  ARAB  POETRY. London: Zed Books, Ltd. (1984).
Available from Amazon
About Tawfiq Sayigh (very brief)
1304335323

“. . . what of my comrades in this cell? You ask. . .” (Fouzi El Asmar)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
Some 250 Palestinians being held in Israel’s Negev prison have begun an open-ended hunger strike in protest to their administrative detention. Shiite News Photo.
Some 250 Palestinians being held in Israel’s Negev prison have begun an open-ended hunger strike in protest to their administrative detention. Shiite News Photo.

❶ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
5  PALESTINIANS  JAILED  WITHOUT  TRIAL  CONTINUE  HUNGER  STRIKES
August 29, 2015
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — Five Palestinian prisoners in Israel’s Negev jail on Saturday continued a hunger strike they began on August 18 to protest their internment without trial or charge, the Palestinian Authority Committee for Prisoners’ Affairs said.
____Fadi Obeidat, a lawyer for the PA committee, met with some of the hunger strikers Saturday and said that they were demanding an end to Israel’s policy of administrative detention.
____The Negev jail — also known as the Ktz’iot prison — is one of Israel’s largest detention centers and has been site to frequent tensions between administrative detainees and prison personnel in recent months.
More. . .

❷ INTERNATIONAL MIDDLE EAST MEDIA CENTER (IMEMC)
INCLUDING  A  CHILD,  THREE  PALESTINIANS  KIDNAPPED  IN  RAMALLAH  AND  JERUSALEM
August 30, 2015
Israeli soldiers invaded, on Sunday at dawn, the town of Silwad, east of the central West Bank city of Ramallah, kidnapped a child, and held his 10-year-old brother in the bathroom while interrogating and threatening him. The army also kidnapped two young men in occupied East Jerusalem.
____The child, Hamza Shokri Hammad, 15 years of age, was kidnapped after a large number of soldiers smashed the family’s main door, and detained him in one of the rooms after forcing him brother Bilal, 10 years of age, into the bathroom, where he was threatened and interrogated.
____Hammad was taken prisoner before the soldiers left the property; the family said the army confiscated mobile phones, Game CD’s, in addition to destroying a computer.
More. . .

❸ INTERNATIONAL MIDDLE EAST MEDIA CENTER (IMEMC)
PCHR  REPORT  ON  ISRAELI  HUMAN  RIGHTS  VIOLATIONS  IN  THE  OPT  (20- 26 AUGUST 2015)
August 28, 2015
Israeli forces have continued with systematic attacks against Palestinian civilians and their property in the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) for the reporting period of 20- 26 August 2015.
____During the reporting period, Israeli forces used excessive force against Palestinian civilians participating in peaceful protests in the West Bank. In the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces continued to open fire at border areas along the Gaza Strip border. . . .
____In the West Bank, Israeli forces continued to use excessive and systematic use of force against peaceful protests organized by Palestinian civilians and Israeli and international human rights activists. . . .
____Moreover, Israeli forces arrested 3 protestors, including 2 photojournalists and a human rights activist, participating in al-Nabi Saleh protest, northwest of Ramallah, under the pretext that they were present in a closed military zone. Two of whom were taken to Benjamin police station, east of occupied Jerusalem, while the third one was taken to Oferdetention facility, southwest of Ramallah.
More. . .

Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network Photo
Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network Photo

❹ ALTERNATIVE INFORMATION CENTER (AIC)
VIDEO!  LINA:  STUDENT  ACTIVIST,  FORMER  PRISONER
Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
August 23, 2015
The new short film, “Lina | لينا”, by Palestinian filmmaker Osama Abed, tells the story of Palestinian student activist and former political prisoner Lina Khattab. The 11-minute film, in Arabic with English subtitles, covers Lina’s arrest, abuse by occupation soldiers, Israeli military trial, struggle and her freedom, and her ongoing involvement in the struggle for the freedom of Palestine, its land and people.
____Abed is a filmmaker whose work has been accepted at multiple film festivals in the region and has received awards for his filmmaking from several Palestinian municipalities; he is currently directing “Let Me Live.”
More. . .

❺ Opinion
+972 BLOG
‘WHAT’S  THE  NUMBER  OF  YOUR  ROOM,  CHILD?’
Sawsan Khalife
August 29, 2015
(Sawsan Khalife is an independent journalist.)
[. . . .]
According to Defense for Children International, each year approximately 500 to 700 Palestinian children, some as young as 12, are detained and prosecuted in the Israeli military court system. The most common charge is stone throwing.
____. . . I wondered whether there is a room for children in the West Bank similar to “Room Number 4,” which Palestinian children in East Jerusalem know all too well.
____It would be surprising to find a child, or even an adult, in East Jerusalem who is not familiar with “Room Number 4.” This is the name of the interrogation room in Jerusalem’s police station in the Russian compound neighborhood, where Palestinian residents, including children, are interrogated.
____While hundreds of children are arrested annually, it is the conditions they undergo during their arrest and interrogation that represents possibly the most severe violation, under both Israeli and international law.
More. . .

(Blogger’s note: This poem was written 45 years ago. Its timeliness today cannot be disputed.)

“TWENTY  COMRADES,”  BY  FOUZI  EL ASMAR
Beloved, you ask me
Of life in this prison, this cell
what of the chains
chafing my wrists
what of my food and drink
and the comrades of my cell?

Beloved, let me tell you:
Our clouds are indeed heavy
But our being here
is a smile of spring,
The shock of thunder
in autumn, after draught.
We are not defeated
Like our jailers.

Life in this prison, this cell
is a palm tree impregnated
at the dawn.
My chains are the round
echo of a muezzin,
Their clank is the ringing
of my people’s bells.

Beloved, you as me
of the meaning of my food
Here beloved
we grow like the wild flowers.

And what of
my comrades in this cell? You ask
They are the twenty candles
lighting the darkness of this cell
The twenty songs
shaking the walls of this cell
The twenty revolutions
that will eternalize this cell
And we, beloved
we shall not be stopped.  (June, 1970)

El Asmar, Fouzi. POEMS  FROM  AN  ISRAELI  PRISON. Intro. By Israel Shahak. New York: KNOW Books, 1973.
Available from Amazon.
About Fouzi El Asmar.

Israeli soldiers arresting a Palestinian boy for allegedly throwing stones at an Israeli police station on Salahaddin Street, East Jerusalem. [Middle East Monitor file photo]
Israeli soldiers arresting a Palestinian boy for allegedly throwing stones at an Israeli police station on Salahaddin Street, East Jerusalem. [Middle East Monitor file photo]

“. . . Who are these songs when they . . . hide them from the eyes of soldiers . . .” (Ibrahim Nasrallah)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
One of a series of photos taken in Nabi Saleh on Friday, Aug. 28 that has subsequently gone viral.
One of a series of photos taken in Nabi Saleh on Friday, Aug. 28 that has subsequently gone viral.

❶ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
PHOTOS  OF  FAMILY  FORCING  SOLDIER  TO  RELEASE  12-YEAR-OLD  BOY  GO  VIRAL
August 29, 2015
BETHLEHEM―Images of two Palestinian women and a young girl scuffling with an Israeli soldier after he tackled a Palestinian boy with a broken arm went viral Friday evening, as the images became widely circulated on social media networks and mainstream media outlets.
____The incident took place in the central occupied West Bank village of Nabi Saleh near Ramallah, where local, international and Israeli activists gather for weekly Friday rallies in protest against Israel’s separation wall, a well as settlement expansion and illegal policies.
More. . . 

❷ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
NEW  SCHOOL  YEAR  IN  DOUBT  AT  PALESTINIAN  CHRISTIAN  SCHOOLS  IN  ISRAEL
August 29, 2015
JERUSALEM ―Israel’s academic year starts Tuesday, but if tough financing talks with the government bear no fruit, the doors of the country’s 47 Christian schools will remain closed, a church official said.
____Some 33,000 children, mostly Muslim Palestinians, attend the schools, which have a history predating Israel’s foundation in 1948 and are run primarily by the Roman Catholic church.
____Traditionally, the schools received 65 percent of their budgets from the state, with parents paying the balance. But that figure was cut to 34 percent two years ago, doubling the amount parents had to come up with.
More. . .

❸ +972 MAGAZINE
PHOTOS: THE GAZA FAMILIES OBLITERATED IN JUST 51 DAYS
Photography: Anne Paq / Activestills.org
August 26, 2015
Out of the 2,200 Palestinians killed in last summer’s assault on the Gaza Strip, over 80 percent were civilians. Nearly 150 families lost three or more relatives, with some families disappearing entirely. Activestills’ Anne Paq returns to Gaza to tell the story behind the numbers.
More. . .

Photos (from left to right) of the killed siblings Mohammed (12), Yara (8) and Nadeen (16) Mahmoud Al Farra, held by their mother in their home in Khan Younis, February 22, 2015. 9 members of the Al Farra family were killed in the street by an Israeli missile while they were fleeing their home after it was attacked on August 1st, 2014.
Photos (from left to right) of the killed siblings Mohammed (12), Yara (8) and Nadeen (16) Mahmoud Al Farra, held by their mother in their home in Khan Younis, February 22, 2015. 9 members of the Al Farra family were killed in the street by an Israeli missile while they were fleeing their home after it was attacked on August 1st, 2014. (Anne Paq/Activestills.org)

❹ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
ISRAELI  FORCES  INJURE  5  IN  NORTHERN  WEST  BANK  CLASHES
August 29, 2015
NABLUS ―Israeli forces shot four young Palestinian men with rubber-coated steel bullets and an elderly man suffered from tear gas inhalation during clashes early Saturday morning in the northern West Bank village of Tell, south of Nablus, Palestinian security sources told Ma’an.
____Palestinian security sources said that several Israeli military vehicles stormed the village of Tell at 1 a.m. on Saturday morning before local youths responded to their presence and clashes broke out.
____The security sources, as well as locals, said young Palestinian men threw stone and empty bottles at the intruding soldiers, who then fired stun grenades, tear-gas canisters and rubber-coated steel bullets at the young men.
[. . . .]
____Israeli forces have injured 1,307 Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian Territory since the start of the year. . . .
More. . .

❺ Opinion
THE MIDDLE EAST MONITOR (MEM)
NGOS  CALL  ON  ISRAEL  TO  LIFT  GAZA  BLOCKADE
August 27, 2015
Aid, faith, development and human rights organisations have launched an unprecedented joint call urging world leaders to put pressure on Israel to lift the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip. The group of thirty-five NGOs blame the siege for the lack of reconstruction in the enclave a year after the 2014 Israeli offensive.
____“It’s outrageous that a year on from the last Gaza war, not one home has been totally rebuilt and the world has left families to live in rubble,” said senior Avaaz campaigner Fadi Quran. “Governments are allowing Israel to violate the most basic humanitarian laws. Since the start of the blockade there have been three wars with hundreds of children killed.”
____The campaign has attracted the support of renowned international organisations, including Oxfam, Action Against Hunger and Avaaz, to become the largest ever global public push to end the blockade of the Palestinian territory.
More. . . 
***  SIGN THE PETITION
Oxfam
Action Against Hunger | ACF International

“OUR  SONGS,”  BY  IBRAHIM  NASRALLAH
Who are these songs for?
When they break the silence of the night
spreading warmth and life over the snow,
when they fall on the amine and carry it to water,
when they pass by a dim window, secretly embracing a lover,
when the spread over the grass, wrapped in clouds?
Who are these songs for
when they free the flowers
and the hidden flame of passion in women,
when they come to you with their flowers,
when they come to me with their secrets,
when they embrace the sun or a bouquet of flowers
or anything abandoned on the road?
When they send a pulse into the ground
and the pulse blossoms into a flower
in the space between two deaths,
or in a cloud, or in fire?
Who are these songs for
when they laugh,
who are these songs for when they rise?
And who are these songs for
when they open the doors to our houses
and embrace us one by one,
returning us to our lore?
When they carry our bodies in weddings
and cushion us with a lovely homeland
and then pick the most delicious fruit
and the farthest star
and hide them from the eyes of soldiers
to carry them―like our mother―home to us?

From Nasrallah, Ibrahim. RAIN  INSIDE:  SELECTED  POEMS. Trans. Omnia Amin and Rick London. Willimantic, CT: Curbstone Press, 2009. Available from Amazon.
About Ibrahim Nazrallah.

Israeli soldiers firing rubber-coated bullets and tear gas. Ma'an Images.
Israeli soldiers firing rubber-coated bullets and tear gas. Ma’an Images.

“. . . A skylark sings its morning song in Tulkarim . . .” (Salem Jubran)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
The local school of Palestinian Susya, founded last year, has opened its fifth year of activity this month. photo the villages group.
The local school of Palestinian Susya, founded last year, has opened its fifth year of activity this month. photo the villages group.

❶ INTERNATIONAL MIDDLE EAST MEDIA CENTER (IMEMC)
SIX  MORE  PALESTINIANS  KIDNAPPED  IN  HEBRON,  ELEVEN  SINCE  DAWN
Thursday August 27, 2015
Israeli soldiers kidnapped, Thursday, six more Palestinians in the ath-Thaheriyya town, south of the southern West Bank city of Hebron, and took them to a number of detention and interrogation facilities.
____Media sources in Hebron said dozens of soldiers invaded the town before breaking into, and violently searching, several homes, and kidnapped six Palestinians.
More. . .
Related. . .
Related. . .

❷ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
ISRAELI  RESTRICTIONS  AROUND  AL-AQSA  CONTINUE  FOR  4TH  DAY
Aug. 27, 2015
JERUSALEM ― A large number of Israeli forces remained on Thursday at all entry gates of the Al-Aqsa Mosque for the fourth consecutive day, barring entry to many Palestinians, witnesses told Ma’an.
____The restrictions into the compound have been imposed in an alleged attempt to initiate a daily schedule for Jewish prayer during which Muslim worshipers will be denied access, locals said.
____Dozens of Palestinian women who were denied entry remained outside and were told that they would not be allowed access the mosque before 11 a.m. because entry from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. is for Jews only.
More. . .

❸ THE PALESTINIAN INFORMATION CENTER
ISRAELI  SETTLERS  SEIZE  PALESTINIAN  BUILDING  IN  SILWAN
August 27, 2015
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM ― Israeli Ateret Cohanim Association took control over a Palestinian new building in Batn al-Hawa area in the Silwan neighborhood of occupied Jerusalem, claiming that it was bought from its owner Jamal Sarhan.
____The Jerusalemite monitoring group Wadi Hilweh Information Center clarified that more than 60 settlers stormed the neighborhood at 2:30 a.m. and took control over a building belonging to Jamal Sarhan under Israeli police protection.
____The settlers then fitted bars on the windows before they raised an Israeli flag on the rooftop.
More. . .

From INTERNATIONAL MIDDLE EAST MEDIA CENTER (IMEMC)
From INTERNATIONAL MIDDLE EAST MEDIA CENTER (IMEMC)

❹ PALESTINE NEWS NETWORK
GAZA:  1,000  CHILDREN  SUSTAINED  PERMANENT  DISABILITIES  OF  LAST  YEAR’S  AGGRESSION
August 27, 2015
More than 1,000 Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip sustained permanent disabilities during last year’s 51-day Israeli military onslaught, according to Defense for Children International (DCI), an NGO devoted to children’s rights.
____In a report entitled “Operation Protective Edge: A war waged on Gaza’s Children”, released on Tuesday, DCI’s Palestine unit said last year’s Israeli offensive had led to the injury of more than 11,000 Palestinians, including 1,000 permanently disabled by the violence.
____The children’s rights organization also noted that, a full year after the Israeli assault, thousands of victims — including a number of children — continued to suffer from their injuries and the attendant psychological trauma.
More. . . http://english.pnn.ps/2015/08/27/gaza-1000-children-sustained-permanent-disabilities-of-last-years-aggression/
Related. . .

❺ Opinion
MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
PALESTINE:  WHAT  IF  YOUR  SCHOOL  IS  DEMOLISHED  TOMORROW?
August 27, 2015
Fadwa Baroud
(Fadwa Baroud is the Information and Communication Assistant for The European Commission Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO) in Jerusalem.)

On July 12, 2015, Israel announced that it would seek to carry out demolition orders of structures in the Palestinian village of Susiya in what is known as Area C, an area that covers 60 percent of the West Bank, under Israeli control, including the tiny school that consists of four classrooms, three toilets and a kitchen. Before the school was built in 2010, the original classrooms were made of tents that were destroyed by a heavy storm.
____The school and kindergarten are among the 170 structures in Susiya that face demolition orders. Other structures include 32 residential tents, 26 animal shelters, 20 water cisterns, 20 latrines and two health clinics. The demolition orders can be implemented at any time.
____Israel says the structures can be demolished because they were built without permits and are illegal. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Israel has rejected more than 90 percent of building permit applications. That means most Palestinians must choose between building without a permit or not building at all.
More. . .

“THE  EXILE,”  BY  SALEM  JUBRAN
The sun seeps through barbed borders
Unheeded by the watchful squads,
And
A skylark sings its morning song in Tulkarim.
As evening comes
It sups and sleeps
Peacefully
With the birds of the kibbutzim.
A lost donkey strolls
Across the barbed borders;
It grazes peacefully,
Unheeded by the watchful squads.
But as for me, your ousted son,
My native land,
Between my eyes and your skies
Walls of the border stand.

From: A  LOVER  FROM  PALESTINE  AND  OTHER  POEMS:  AN  ANTHOLOGY  OF  PALESTINIAN  POETRY. Ed. Abdul Wahab Al-Messiri. Washington, DC: Free Palestine Press, 1970.
Available from Amazon.
About Tulkarim

Al-Aqsa Jerusalem Friday prayers blocked fourth day. CNN madcameraman photo.

Al-Aqsa Jerusalem Friday prayers blocked fourth day. CNN madcameraman photo.

“Don’t ask me the impossible. . .” (Fouzi El Asmar)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
al-Eizariya, as photographed in the 1940s with the Greek Orthodox church on the hilltop.
al-Eizariya, as photographed in the 1940s with the Greek Orthodox church on the hilltop.

(Please take a moment to read the page “Purpose” above. Thank you.)

❶ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
ISRAELI  FORCES  DEMOLISH  2  HOMES,  7  STORES  IN  AL-EIZARIYA
Aug. 26, 2015
JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — Israeli forces on Wednesday morning demolished nine tin shacks, including two homes, in the town of al-Eizariya, east of Jerusalem, on land Israeli authorities have earmarked for construction of the separation wall, locals said.
____A popular resistance committee spokesperson, Hani Halabiya, told Ma’an that large numbers of Israeli troops escorted bulldozers and Israeli Civil Administration inspectors into the town.
____The bulldozers then demolished nine shacks without any prior warning, saying that they had been built without the necessary licenses, he said.
____Halabiya said that some of the structures belonged to Sami Abu Ghaliya, a local Fatah official representing Bedouin tribes on the outskirts of Jerusalem, while the others were being rented by Palestinians from Jerusalem, Hebron, al-Eizariya, and the Bedouin al-Jahalin tribe.
____Two of the structures served as homes and seven as commercial stores, including a grocery store, a car wash, and shops selling brassware and used furniture, Halabiya said.
More. . .

Israeli separation barrier at Al-Eizariya, 2007. This shows a part very close to the eastern part of Jerusalem, 2 Km from al-Aqsa Mosque.
Israeli separation barrier at Al-Eizariya, 2007. This shows a part very close to the eastern part of Jerusalem, 2 Km from al-Aqsa Mosque.
“AbuDisWall timeLine” by Zero, Tamarah.

❷ THE MIDDLE EAST MONITOR (MEM)
ISRAELI  MINISTER  TO  BAN  PALESTINIAN  ORGANISATIONS  IN  AL-AQSA
August 25, 2015 ―Israeli Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said yesterday that he is seeking to outlaw two Palestinian-Arab groups “that strive to keep Jews off the Temple Mount [Al-Aqsa Mosque] in Jerusalem,” Israeli media reported.
____The two groups are mainly running Sharia Schools inside the mosque’s grounds and organising trips for Palestinians to visit the holy site, which is the third holiest site for about two billion Muslims around the world.
____AlkhaleejOnline reported Erdan . . . . accused the groups of destabilising the situation in the area around the mosque. According to the Israeli Radio, Erdan has received detailed security reports from the Israeli security services about the groups’ activities.
____Meanwhile, Deputy Islamic Movement leader Kamal Al-Khatib said: “This is an Israeli plan targeting Al-Aqsa Mosque.”
More. . .

❸ PALESTINE CHRONICLE
ISRAELI  PRESIDENT  SAYS  GOVT  HAS  ‘RIGHT’  TO  BUILD  WEST  BANK  SETTLEMENTS
The Free Zone
August 25, 2015
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin says the country has the “right” to build settlements in the West Bank and it is “not a matter of political debate.” His comments are likely to cause controversy, with the EU and Palestine opposed to illegal Israeli development in the area.
____Although the building of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank is illegal under international law, Rivlin believes that the “land of Israel” includes this territory.
____“I love the land of Israel with all my heart,” Rivlin said, AFP reported. “I have never and will never give up on this land. For me, our right to this land is not a matter of political debate. It is a basic fact of modern Zionism.”
More. . .

❹ PALESTINE NEWS & INFORMATION AGENCY – WAFA
ISRAEL  TO  UPROOT  TREES  IN  JORDAN  VALLEY  NATURE  RESERVE,  TO FORCE  FAMILIES  OUT  OF  HOMES  FOR  MILITARY  DRILLS
August 26, 2015
TUBAS ― Israeli forces Wednesday notified a nature reserve to the East of Tubas, in the northern Jordan Valley, of their intentions to uproot its forest trees, according to a local official.
____Motaz Bisharat, in charge of the Jordan Valley settlements file in the Palestinian Authority, said that forces notified ‘Enoun’ nature reserve, which occupies an area of 14 dunums, of their intentions to uproot the forest trees
[. . . . ]
____Aref Daraghmeh, head of al-Maleh local council, said an Israeli army force broke into the village in the morning and handed notices to 14 families ordering them to leave their homes from 6:00 AM until 12:00 PM on September 1, to conduct military drills in the area.
More. . .

❺ Opinion
PALESTINE CHRONICLE
ISRAEL  UNLEASHES  ITS  DIPLOMATIC  THUG  ON  THE  UN
Jonathan Cook, Nazareth
Aug 25 2015
The appointment by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu of one of his most hawkish and outspoken rivals as Israel’s new ambassador to the United Nations has prompted widespread consternation.
____As one Israeli analyst noted last week, Danny Danon’s appointment amounts to a “cruel joke” on the international community. The new envoy “lacks even the slightest level of finesse and subtlety required of a senior diplomat”.
____Last year Netanyahu sacked Danon as deputy defence minister, describing him as too “irresponsible” even by the standards of Israel’s usually anarchic politics. Danon had denounced the prime minister for “leftist feebleness” in his handling of Israel’s attack on Gaza last summer.
____Danon is a UN official’s worst nightmare. He is a vocal opponent of a two-state solution and has repeatedly called for the annexation of the West Bank.
More. . .

“TO  A  JEWISH  FRIEND,”  BY  FOUZI  EL-ASMAR
Don’t ask me
the impossible
Don’t’ ask me
to hunt starts,
walk to the sun.
Don’t ask me
to empty the sea
to erase the day’s light
I am nothing but a man.

Don’t ask me
to abandon my eyes, my love,
the memory of my childhood.

I was raised
under an olive tree,
I ate the figs
of my orchard
drank wine from
the sloping vineyards
Tasted Cactus fruit
in the valleys
more, more.

The nightingale has sung
in my ears
The free winds of fields and cities
always tickled me
My friend
You cannot ask me
to leave my own country.  (March 1971)

El Azmar, Fouzi. POEMS  FROM  AN  ISRAELI  PRISON. Intro. By Israel Shahak. New York: KNOW Books, 1973.
Available from Amazon.
About Fouzi El Asmar.

“Greek Orthodox Church al-Eizariya” by See The Holy Land.

“. . . Have you forgotten your love in the lexicon of silence? . . .” (Samih Al-Qasim)

Harold KnightLeave a comment

(Please take a moment to read the page “Purpose” above. Thank you.)

Students of the Susya Elementary School (PNN photo-24 August 2015)
Students of the Susya Elementary School (PNN photo-24 August 2015)

❶ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
US  JUDGE  ORDERS  PALESTINIAN  DEPOSITS  OVER  ATTACKS
August 25, 2015
NEW YORK ―A US judge Monday ordered Palestinian authorities to post $10 million in cash or bond while they appeal a ruling to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to American victims of attacks.
____Judge George Daniels said the Palestinian Authority and Palestine Liberation Organization must also deposit $1 million every 30 days, pending appeal of the February verdict.
____A New York jury found the PA and PLO liable for six attacks in Jerusalem between 2002-2004, awarding American victims and their families damages that amounted to $655.5 million.
____Daniels said the judgment in favor of the plaintiffs would be entered in the next 60 days, but would be stayed pending appeal as long as the deposits were made with the clerk of the court.
____Two weeks ago, the Obama administration urged Daniels to “carefully consider” the PA’s precarious finances in deciding whether to impose a bond requirement.
____Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised “significant concerns” about what could happen if a bond “severely compromised the Palestinian Authority’s ability to operate as a governmental authority.”
More. . .

❷ INTERNATIONAL MIDDLE EAST MEDIA CENTER (IMEMC)
ARMY  DEMOLISHES  TWO  HOMES  IN  JERUSALEM
August 25, 2015
Several Israeli police and army vehicles invaded, on Tuesday morning, Jabal al-Mokabber village, in occupied East Jerusalem, and demolished two homes belonging to Mohammad Sa’id al-‘Abbassi and his brother Khaled.
____Mohammad told the Wadi Hilweh Information Center that he, and his brother, started the construction of their homes nearly 45 days ago, and were getting ready to inhabit them in the coming few days. The homes were supposed to house two families of nine members.
____Al-Abbassi said his home was 140 square/meters, and his brother’s property was 120 square/meters, and added that the family never received any demolition orders from the City Council.
More. . .
Related. . .

Image By Wadi Hilweh Information Center - Silwanic. August 25, 2015.
Image By Wadi Hilweh Information Center – Silwanic. August 25, 2015.

❸ PALESTINE NEWS NETWORK
SUSYA  STUDENTS:  SETTLERS  FOLLOW  US,  STEAL  OUR  BAGS  AND  RIP  OUR  BOOKS
August 25, 2015
With the beginning of the new school year in Palestine on Monday, the students of Susya village south Hebron hills revealed the struggles of going to school in light of continuous threats and settler attacks.
____On May 5 2015, The Israeli High Court of Justice ruled to allow the army to demolish the entire village of Susya located in area C (which makes up 60% of the West Bank and falls under Israeli military and civil control). The decision ruled to expel the residents, numbering around 340 men, women and children, to area A (which makes up 18% of the West Bank and falls under Palestinian authority).
[. . . .]
____Since then, the villagers have suffered continuous harassment by the settlers and Israeli military forces, and the little students are no exception to the rule.
More. . . 

❹ THE MIDDLE EAST MONITOR (MEM)
GAZA’S  HEALTH  MINISTRY  HOLDS  NATIONAL  UNITY  GOVERNMENT  RESPONSIBLE  FOR  CLOSURE  OF  HOSPITALS
August 25, 2015
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza has announced that many hospitals and health institutions in the Gaza Strip have shut down as a result of lack of fuel, and that the Ministry holds the national unity government accountable for any harm that may befall their patients due to “the government’s lack of responsibility.”
____In a statement issued on 24 August, the ministry also revealed that it has halted heart surgery services in Gaza’s European Hospital and has limited its services in Al-Shefaa Hospital to emergency cases only; noting that each of the hospitals of Kamal Adwan, Gaza European, Al-Shefaa and Al-Rantisi are all threatened to stop offering services as a result of current fuel shortages meaning they are unable to continue their operations.
____The Ministry explained that such actions are a result of the worsening Gaza crisis and the government’s “lack of responsibility” towards the situation despite repeated appeals.
More. . .

❺ Opinion/Analysis
THE PALESTINIAN INFORMATION CENTER
ISRAELI  REPRESSION  TRIGGERS  “LONE  WOLF”  OPERATIONS
Khalid Amayreh
August 12, 2015
Lone-wolf operations refer to retaliatory attacks by individuals having deep grievances resulting from overwhelming oppression.
____Such attacks are almost impossible to categorize or systematize, let alone forecast. It is very hard to predict when and where they will happen.
____This type of attacks occurs from time to time in occupied Palestine, especially when the level of Israeli repression of Palestinians reaches exceptionally high levels.
____The attacks usually assume several forms, including, inter alia, stabbing with a knife or a similar sharp tool, hitting with a metal object, running over soldiers or settlers using vehicles (vehicular attacks).
____Most Palestinians feel such attacks are inevitable if not legitimate due to overwhelming Israeli repression, which includes cold-blooded murder outside the law as well as hefty jail sentences disproportionate to violations committed.
More. . .
Khalid Amayreh is a Palestinian journalist and current affairs commentator living in Dura in the southern West Bank.

“BUCHENWALD,”  BY  SAMIH AL-QASIM
Have you forgotten your shame at Buchenwald?
Do you remember your flames at Buchenwald?
Have you forgotten your love in the lexicon
of silence? Do you remember your panic―
at the reign of death, in the nightmare of time―
that the whole world
would become a Buchenwald?
Whether you’ve forgotten or not,
the dead’s images linger
among the wreaths of flowers,
and from the dismembered corpses
a hand emerges,
a nail in the palm and tattoo on the wrist―
a sign for the planet.
Do you remember? Or not?
Buchenwald― whether or not you’ve forgotten,
the images of the murdered
remain among the wreaths of flowers . . .

From Al-Qasim, Samih.  SADDER  THAN  WATER.  New and Selected Poems. Trans. Nazih Kasis and Adina Hoffman. Jerusalem: Ibis Editions, 2008.
Available from Amazon
About Samih Al-Qasim. Obituary, August 20, 2014.

Image By Wadi Hilweh Information Center - silwanic.net.
Image By Wadi Hilweh Information Center – silwanic.net.

“. . . the moon is trudging there downcast and weary as the UNRWA. . .” (Rashid Hussein)

Harold KnightLeave a comment

(Please take a moment to read the page “Purpose” above. Thank you.)

Morning lineup at UNRWA school in Gaza. (UN Photo-Shareef Sarhan. November 27, 2013.)
Morning lineup at UNRWA school in Gaza. (UN Photo-Shareef Sarhan. November 27, 2013.)

❶ From MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
UNRWA  STAFF  IN  GAZA  ANNOUNCE  STRIKE  ON  1ST  DAY OF  SCHOOL  YEAR
Aug. 24, 2015
GAZA CITY ―Around 225,000 Gazan schoolchildren were forced to return home on Monday after local staff at the UN agency for Palestinian refugees in Gaza went on strike on the first day of the new school year.
____The strike comes amid a financial crisis in the agency that earlier threatened to delay the start of the school year.
[. . . .]
____The union met with UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl on Sunday and said the “atmosphere wasn’t positive.”
[. . . .]
____For Palestinian refugees, the start of the school year came as a relief after UNRWA warned for weeks that it would have to delay the school year if it was unable to cover a $101 million deficit.
____The UN agency was only able to announce on Wednesday that the year would go ahead as scheduled, after it secured just short of $80 million in contributions against its deficit.
More. . .
Related. . . UNRWA  COMMISSIONER  GENERAL  FREEZES  CONTROVERSIAL  ‘UNPAID  LEAVE’
Related. . . ‘WE  CAN’T  HAVE  ANOTHER  YEAR  LIKE  THIS’:  UNRWA  COMMISSIONER-GENERAL

❷ From: AL-MONITOR (PALESTINE PULSE)
AFTER  ISRAELI  SETTLERS  LEFT,  THESE  GAZANS  PLANTED  MORE  THAN  EGGPLANTS
Hana Salah
August 23, 2015
KHAN YUNIS, Gaza Strip — A vast agricultural area in southern Gaza was dubbed by the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture in 2007 as Muhararat, or liberated lands. This term designates the settlements that were vacated by Israel in August 2005 and turned into Palestinian properties after 38 years. Ever since, the Palestinian government has been using these lands for cultivation, housing projects and resorts.
____When former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced Israel’s unilateral disengagement plan in 2003, the withdrawal in 2005 was warmly welcomed in the Gaza Strip. Nineteen settlements and settlement outposts distributed in the south and north were evacuated, and checkpoints were abolished. . .
____In 2006, the Palestinian government announced the formation of the General Administration of National Muhararat, tasked with managing, protecting, investing and supervising the Muhararat while reaping profits from them.
More. . .
Hana Salah is a Palestinian financial journalist based in Gaza. She previously worked with Palestinian newspapers and Turkey’s Anadolu News Agency.

The supervisor of citrus and potato cultivation in Muhararat areas inspects a crop, Gaza Strip, Aug. 12, 2015. (photo by Hana Salah)
The supervisor of citrus and potato cultivation in Muhararat areas inspects a crop, Gaza Strip, Aug. 12, 2015. (Photo by Hana Salah)

❸ From MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
ISRAEL  BEGINS  CONSTRUCTION  ON  RUINS  OF  NEGEV  BEDOUIN  VILLAGE
August 23, 2015
BEERSHEBA ― Israeli excavators on Sunday morning began work on infrastructure for two Jewish-only settlements in the former Bedouin village of Umm al-Hiran in the Negev desert in southern Israel, locals said.
____Locals told Ma’an that excavators and bulldozers were building a new road under heavy protection of Israeli forces.
____In November 2013, the Israeli government approved a decision to demolish the unrecognized Bedouin village of Umm al-Hiran and passed plans to create two Jewish settlements, Hiran and Kassif, in the area.
More. . .

❹ From THE PALESTINIAN INFORMATION CENTER
HAMAS:  NO  JUSTIFICATION  FOR  THE  UNRWA’S  REDUCTION  OF  ITS  SERVICES
August 24, 2015
GAZA ―Hamas Department of Refugee Affairs Sunday called on the international community and UNRWA to continue offering aid to and protecting right of Palestinian refugees till their return to their homeland from which they were forcibly displaced in 1948.
____There is no justification for the reduction of UNRWA’s services provided to Palestinian refugees in its five fields of operations especially after its Commissioner-General declared UNRWA’s 2015 financial crisis is over, the statement said. . .
____The department also stressed its total rejection of reducing UNRWA’s health care services provided to Palestinian refugees.
[. . . .]
____The Department of Refugee Affairs also stressed the importance of using Palestinian Authority textbooks in UNRWA schools, as it helps save huge amounts of money and prevents any distortion to the Palestinian history and struggle.
More. . .

❺ Opinion/Analysis
From INSIGHT ON CONFLICT
BORN  &  BRED  WITHOUT  RIGHTS:  GAZA  STRIP  REFUGEES  IN  JORDAN
Dario Sabaghi
July 10 2015
2 million Palestinian refugees live in Jordan but they are not all afforded the same legal status. Dario Sabaghi explains how those originating from the Gaze Strip are not considered citizens leaving them in a very precarious position.
[. . . .]
____Jerash Camp, also known locally as Gaza camp, was established in 1968 for 11,500 Palestine refugees who fled from the Gaza strip, as consequence of 1967 Arab-Israeli war. It is located not far from the Roman stone ruins of Jerash. Currently, it hosts about 28,000 registered refugees, who live in an area of 0.75 square kilometres. If you want to understand its overcrowding, you have to take in consideration that Gaza Camp is almost twice as large as Vatican City populated by 845 inhabitants.
More. . .

“TENT  #50  (SONG  OF  A  REFUGEE),”  BY  RASHID  HUSSEIN
Tent #50, on the left, is my new world,
Shared with me by my memories:
Memories as verdant as the eyes of spring.
Memories like the eyes of a woman weeping,
And memories the color of milk and love!

Two doors has my tent, two doors like two wounds
One leads to the other tents, wrinkle-browed
Like clouds no longer able to weep;
And the second ― a rent in the ceiling, leading
To the skies,
Revealing the stars
Like refugees scattered,
And like them, naked.

Also the moon is trudging there
Downcast and weary as the UNRWA,
Yellow as if it were the UNRWA
Under a load of yellow cheese for the refugees.

Tent #50, on the left, that is my present.
But it is too cramped to contain a future!
And ― “Forget!” they say, but how can I?

Teach the night to forget to bring
Dreams showing me my village
And teach the wind to forget to carry to me
The aroma of apricots in my fields!
And teach the sky, too, to forget to rain.

Only then, I may forget my country.

From: Aruri, Naseer and Edmund Ghareeb, eds. ENEMY  OF  THE  SUN:  POETRY  OF  THE  PALESTINIAN RESISTANCE. Washington, DC: Drum and Spear Press, 1970.
Available from Amazon.
Rashid Hussein (1936-1977) was born in Musmus, Palestine. He published his first collection in 1957 and established himself as a major Palestinian poet and orator. He participated in founding the Land Movement in 1959. He left in 1966 and lived in Syria and Lebanon and later in New York City where he died in February, 1977. He was buried a week later in Musmus. His funeral was attended by thousands of Palestinians.
More. . .

Jerash Camp, also known locally as Gaza camp, was established in 1968 for 11,500 Palestine refugees who fled from the Gaza strip. Photo Dario Sabaghi.
Jerash Camp, also known locally as Gaza camp, was established in 1968 for 11,500 Palestine refugees who fled from the Gaza strip. Photo Dario Sabaghi.

“. . . ‘No!’ for those who sold and bought Gaza’s silver anklet. . .” (Mueen Bessissou)

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Nada Mumer waits to travel to Egypt to meet her husband. The sleeping boy is her ill son. (Photo, Isra Saleh El-Namy)
Nada Mumer waits to travel to Egypt to meet her husband. The sleeping boy is her ill son. (Photo, Isra Saleh El-Namy)

❶ From: MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
ABBAS  RESIGNS  AS  HEAD  OF  PLO  EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE
Aug. 22, 2015
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — President Mahmoud Abbas resigned as head of the PLO Executive Committee Saturday and several others are set to step down, according to local sources.
____Tayseer Qubaa, deputy Palestinian parliament speaker, said that the the Executive Committee will hold a meeting Saturday night in order to set a date for the Palestinian National Council (PNC) to discuss plans for filling the upcoming political vacuum.
____Qubaa said: “As of now, there are six resigning members: President Mahmoud Abbas, Hanan Ashrawi, Ahmad Majdalani, Saeb Erekat, Ghassan al-Shakaa, and Mahmoud Ismae.”
____Palestinian official Wassel Abu Yussef later said that more than half of the 18-member committee had also stepped down.
____”The resignation of the president of the executive committee Mahmud Abbas and more than half of its members has created a legal vacuum, and therefore the Palestine National Council has been asked to meet in one month to elect a new executive committee,” Yussef told AFP.
More. . .

❷ From: MONDOWEISS
PALESTINIANS  STRUGGLE  TO  LEAVE  GAZA  AS  EGYPT  OPENS  RAFAH  CROSSING  FOR  FOUR  DAYS
Isra Saleh El-Namy
August 21, 2015
Fatigue and stress was apparent on the face of Nada Mumer. Nine months pregnant, Mumer waited for the officer to call the names of people who will be allowed to ride a bus to the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing in Gaza.
[. . . .]
The departure gallery at the Rafah crossing was full of people with their suitcases, waiting for their turn to leave as Egypt announced a four-day window the crossing will be open. . .
____Palestinian officials were relieved by the Egyptian decision to open the Rafah crossing, which had been closed for more than two months, aggravating the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
____During this time, many people, including patients seeking advanced medical treatment abroad and students who want to complete their education in universities outside Gaza, found themselves trapped inside what is known as the “world’s biggest open air prison.”
More. . .

❸ From: INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT (ISM)
EXTREME  RIGHT-WING  ZIONISTS  WITH  THE KAHANE  GROUP  ATTACK  PALESTINIANS  AND  INTERNATIONAL ACTIVISTS  IN  HEBRON
ISM al-Khalil Team, Hebron
August 20, 2015
A group of twenty-five extreme Jewish Zionists from France attacked three international activists in front of the shops near the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, H2 area this afternoon.
____When the activists encountered the group of extremists, the extremist started to clap their hands and sing songs while they approached the activists. The activists pulled out their cameras to record what was happening and the extremists responded by threatening the activists in Hebrew, attacking the cameras, pushing and spitting on the activists. . . The military occupation forces did not much to prevent the violence. Instead of holding the extremists accountable for their actions, the army encouraged them to walk away and formed a line to prevent the activists from walking the direction they had intended to and were directed to go another way.
More. . .

Hebron extremists proudly held the infamous yellow flag of Kahane group. ISM Photo.
Hebron extremists proudly held the infamous yellow flag of Kahane group. ISM Photo.

❹ From: INTERNATIONAL MIDDLE EAST MEDIA CENTER (IMEMC)
CHRISTIAN  PRIESTS,  PALESTINIANS,  HOLD  PRAYERS  ON  BULLDOZED  LANDS
August 23, 2015
Dozens of Palestinians, headed by several Christians priests, conducted prayers on Palestinian lands that have been destroyed and uprooted by Israeli soldiers, in Beit Jala city, in the West Bank district of Bethlehem.
____Head of the Beit Jala City Council Nicola Khamis said the priests, the locals and various international human rights and Palestine solidarity activists gathered on the lands, carrying Palestinian flags, and signs condemning the ongoing and escalating Israeli violations and land theft.
More . . .

❺ Opinion
From: MIDDLE EAST MONITOR
THE  ILLUSION  OF  A  RIFT  IN  THE  OBAMA – NETANYAHU  RELATIONSHIP
Dr Fayez Rasheed
August 21, 2015
Some of our Palestinian and Arab politicians and writers are counting on a desert mirage. They think it is water, but when they approach it, they find that it is something else.
____This mirage is the rift in the relationship between Netanyahu and Obama. Their evidence of this is weak, i.e. Netanyahu’s statements against Obama, especially after the signing of the Iranian nuclear agreement and what seemed to be Obama’s anger with Netanyahu after his speech in Congress, etc.
[. . . .]
____ The point is that the relationship between America’s presidents and any of Israel’s prime ministers is governed by the following rule: the US officials must comply with Israel’s interests, even if Israel’s leaders attack the leaders of their top strategic ally. In order to please their consciences, the American presidents will say some words about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict after their presidential term is up or is on the verge of finishing.
More. . .

“NO!”  BY  MUEEN  BESSISSOU  (Mu’in  Bseiso)
His wounds said: “No!”
His chains said: “No!”
And the turtledove which shielded his sound with her feather
Said: “No!”
Gaza’s silver anklet.
They sold the bullets and bought a goose.

Quaking goose!
Stop for a moment.
And listen to him
Saying: “No!”
Pity him; he did not die under neon lights,
Between the candlestick and the moon.
Pity him; there was no formal announcement
. . . or a dumb funeral.
No moaning poem or song.
Stones!
Let me compose, if only one line of verse
That I may recite it to all the men with long and false beards.

Stop quaking for a moment
And listen to him saying: “No!”
Like the solid fence of a house in Gaza.
Every day, he gets killed one thousand times,
Quaking goose!

From: A LOVER FROM PALESTINE AND OTHER POEMS: AN ANTHOLOGY OF PALESTINIAN POETRY. Ed. Abdul Wahab Al-Messiri. Washington, DC: Free Palestine Press, 1970.
Available from Amazon.

Mu’in Tawfiq Bseiso (1926 –1984) was a Palestinian poet who lived in Egypt. . . He finished his primary and secondary education in Gaza in 1948. He started publishing his work in the Jaffa-based magazine Al-Hurriya where he published his first poems in 1946. . . he enrolled in the American University in Cairo and subsequently graduated in 1952. . . Imprisoned in Egyptian jails twice: 1955 to 1957 and 1959 to 1963. He died due to heart failure in London in 1984.
More. . .

ABBAS RESIGNS
ABBAS RESIGNS

“. . . you plundered the land from me and I ploughed. . .” (Fouzi El Asmar)

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East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan.(AFP/File Ahmad Gharabli)
East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan.(AFP/File Ahmad Gharabli)

❶ From MA’AN NEWS SERVICE
ISRAEL  ISSUES  DEMOLITION  ORDER  FOR  MOSQUE  IN  EAST  JERUSALEM
August 22, 2015
JERUSALEM ― Israeli municipality officials delivered a demolition order Friday to the al-Qaaqaa Mosque, a house, and a studio apartment in the Silwan neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem, local sources told Ma’an.
____Majdi al-Abbasi, from the Wadi Hilweh Information Center in Silwan, said that Israeli municipality members delivered a demolition order to the al-Qaaqaa mosque in the Ein al-Luza area of the neighborhood.
____The mosque, built three years ago, is a 110 square meter space that serves 5,000 worshipers.
More. . .

❷ From MA’AN NEWS SERVICE
AID  GROUPS  DENOUNCE  ‘SURGE’  IN  ISRAELI  HOME  DEMOLITIONS  ON  WEST  BANK
August 22, 2015
JERUSALEM ―Aid groups Friday denounced Israeli demolitions of homes in the West Bank where the UN said 63 houses and other structures were destroyed this week alone, making 132 Palestinians homeless.
____In a joint statement, 31 international organizations including Oxfam and Amnesty International slammed the “surge” in demolitions and urged world leaders “to take urgent action” to put an end to it.
____According to the United Nations, the demolitions of at least 63 homes and basic structures come as Israel steps up the construction of homes for Jewish settlers in the occupied territory.
____They occurred in Area C, which is controlled by the Israeli authorities and where more than 60 percent of the West Bank lies.
____Citing UN figures, the aid groups said the demolitions made “132 people homeless, including 82 children, accounting for a quarter of the displacement from demolitions in 2015 and marking the highest number of people rendered homeless from demolitions in nearly three years”.
More. . .

Palestinians from the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh as they stand on a house after it was demolished by Israeli bulldozers. (AFP/File Abbas Momani)
Palestinians from the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh as they stand on a house after it was demolished by Israeli bulldozers. (AFP/File Abbas Momani)

❸ From: PALESTINE NEWS & INFORMATION AGENCY – WAFA
UPDATE:  SETTLERS  ATTACK  FARMERS  IN  NABLUS,  ARMY  SEARCHES  HOMES  IN  HEBRON
August 22, 2015
NABLUS ―Israeli settlers Saturday attacked Palestinian farmers in the village of Qasra to the south of Nablus, whereas Israeli army raided and searched several Palestinian homes and set up military checkpoints in the Hebron district, according to a local activist.
____Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settlement activities in the West Bank, said that settlers attacked farmers, provoking the village locals and voluntarily guard committees – formed to protect locals against settlers’ attacks – who clashed with the settlers and managed to fend off the attack.
[. . . .]
____In many cases of settlers’ attacks against Palestinians, forces offer protection to settlers and turn a blind eye to attacks committed against locals.
____B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, estimated the settler population in the West Bank at around 531,000.
More. . .

❹ From: +972 MAGAZINE
WATCH:  DOZENS  OF  PALESTINIAN-OWNED  TREES  UPROOTED  TO BUILD  SEPARATION  WALL
Text and photos by Oren Ziv / Activestills.org
August 21, 2015
Dozens of Palestinian-owned olive trees uprooted to complete separation wall that will eventually fully encircle the Bethlehem area.
____The Israeli Defense Ministry renewed its efforts to build a section of the separation wall in the Bethlehem area this week, sending bulldozers and Border Policemen to uproot dozens of olive trees in Wadi Ahmed, on the outskirts of Beit Jala.
____The plan is to completely enclose Bethlehem and the surrounding villages — closing all entrances to the area — by the separation wall. Entire areas of the separation wall have yet be built, including in southern Jerusalem; they are slated for completion in the coming years.
More. . .
Related . . . ISRAELI  BULLDOZERS  ARE  BACK  IN  BEIT  JALA

❺ Opinion
From: THE PALESTINE CHRONICLE
‘THE  IRANIAN  THREAT’:  WHO  IS  THE  GRAVEST  DANGER  TO  WORLD  PEACE?
Noam Chomsky
Aug 20 2015
Throughout the world there is great relief and optimism about the nuclear deal reached in Vienna between Iran and the P5+1 nations, the five veto-holding members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany. Most of the world apparently shares the assessment of the U.S. Arms Control Association that “the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action establishes a strong and effective formula for blocking all of the pathways by which Iran could acquire material for nuclear weapons . . .”
____There are, however, striking exceptions to the general enthusiasm: the United States and its closest regional allies, Israel and Saudi Arabia.
[. . . .]
Opponents of the nuclear deal charge that it does not go far enough. . . .
____Israel, of course, is one of the three nuclear powers, along with India and Pakistan, whose weapons programs have been abetted by the United States and that refuse to sign the Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT).
More. . . 

“I  AM  THE  SON  OF  THE  LAND,”  BY  FOUZI  EL ASMAR
You may take my hands
and lock them in your chains
You may also blindfold me.

You bereaved me
from the light
and I marched
You robbed me
of the bread
and I ate.
You plundered the land
from me
and I ploughed.

I am the son of the land
and for that
I find goodness in this earth
anywhere I happen to be:
The ants of this land
feed me
The branches of this land
foster me
The eagles of this land
will shield my open revolt

Yes
You may take my hands
And lock them in your chains
You may also blindfold me
But here I will stand tall
And here I shall remain
until the very end. (April, 1970) 

From: El Azmar, Fouzi. POEMS  FROM  AN  ISRAELI  PRISON. Intro. By Israel Shahak. New York: KNOW Books, 1973.
Available from Amazon
About Fouzi El Asmar 

Thursday, 20 August 2015. Israeli bulldozers in Beit Jala. Israeli uproots olive trees in Bethlehem. (Photo: Middle East Monitor.)
Thursday, 20 August 2015. Israeli bulldozers in Beit Jala. Israeli uproots olive trees in Bethlehem. (Photo: Middle East Monitor.)

“. . . my right to behold the sun To demolish the tent and banishment . . .” (Fouzi El Azmar)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
Caption: A man kisses the forehead of Naser al-Deen Allan, the father of Mohammed Allan, following news from Allan's lawyer regarding the suspension of his detention, at the family home in the West Bank city of Nablus on August 19, 2015. (Agence France-Presse/Jaafar Ashtiyeh)
A man kisses the forehead of Naser al-Deen Allan, the father of Mohammed Allan, following news from Allan’s lawyer regarding the suspension of his detention, at the family home in the West Bank city of Nablus on August 19, 2015. (Agence France-Presse/Jaafar Ashtiyeh)

❶ From: MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
PALESTINIAN  DETAINED  BY  ISRAEL  ENDS  2-MONTH  HUNGER  STRIKE
Agence France-Presse
Aug. 20, 2015
ASHKELON, Israel ― Palestinian detainee Muhammad Allan ended a two-month hunger strike Thursday that had put his life at risk and sparked intense debate over his detention without trial by Israeli authorities, his lawyer said.
____”Muhammad Allan regained consciousness and is not on hunger strike,” Jamil al-Khatib told journalists of his 31-year-old client, after Israel’s top court late Wednesday temporarily lifted his detention without trial.
____Khatib spoke after visiting Allan in hospital in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon and said his health was improving, though he remained bedridden.
____He was receiving vitamins and minerals intravenously.
____”He is in a good health condition and can communicate with others,” Khatib said.
More. . .

❷ From: PALESTINE NEWS & INFORMATION AGENCY – WAFA
EU  WELCOMES  UNRWA’S  REOPENING  OF  SCHOOL  YEAR
August 20, 2015
BRUSSELS, ― The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Wednesday declared that schools are set to re-open for Palestinian children and refugees in neighboring countries in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria in the coming weeks.
____In a joint press statement, the EU said this positive and encouraging news has been made possible because of the European Union’s support, as the largest donor to UNRWA, as well as the important contributions from other partners and donor countries.
[. . . .]
____With its Member States, the EU remains the largest donor to UNRWA. EU overall funding in 2014 accounted for almost 40% of the total support to UNRWA. Since the year 2000, the EU has provided over €1.6 billion in support of UNRWA’s work.
More . . . 
Related . . .

UNRWA Commissioner General Pierre Krähenbühl visiting the Abu Tue’ma school in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, on 14 September 2014, to celebrate the start of the new school year. Photo: UNRWA/Shareef Sarhan
UNRWA Commissioner General Pierre Krähenbühl visiting the Abu Tue’ma school in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, on 14 September 2014, to celebrate the start of the new school year. Photo: UNRWA/Shareef Sarhan

❸ From: MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
ISRAELI  FORCES  DETAIN  2  CHILDREN  FROM  KAFR  QADDUM
August 20, 2015
QALQILIYA ― Israeli forces detained five Palestinians from the occupied West Bank town of Kafr Qaddum early Thursday, including two children, a local official said.
____Israeli forces raided the town early in the morning and detained three residents. The forces also delivered notices ordering two Palestinian children in the town to meet with Israeli police in the illegal Ariel settlement, coordinator of a local popular committee Murad Ishteiwi said.
____Abdullah Jamil and Subhi Mansour were then interrogated and detained by Israeli police for allegedly taking part in the town’s weekly march, Ishteiwi added.
[. . . .]
____Residents of Kafr Qaddum have carried out weekly demonstrations for four years, often calling for the reopening of a village entrance which has been closed 13 years and is the main route to the nearby city of Nablus, an economic stronghold in the area.
More. . .

❹ From: THE PALESTINIAN INFORMATION CENTER
ISRAELI  OCCUPATION  THREATENS  DEMOLITION  OF  MOSQUE  IN  SILWAN
August 20, 2015
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM ― The Israeli municipal staff in Occupied Jerusalem notified on Thursday the demolition of the al-Qaaqaa Mosque, in Jerusalem’s town of Silwan, under the pretext of unlicensed construction.
____Activist Fakhri Abu Diab said Israel has pursued a policy of arbitrary demolitions in an attempt to mar the life of Palestinian Jerusalemites and force them out of occupied Jerusalem so as to set the stage for settlement expansion particularly around the Old City and the holy al-Aqsa Mosque.
____He said demolitions make part of Israeli intents to Judaize the city and wipe out its typically Islamic character.
____Member of the Mosque’s supervision personnel, Sheikh Hani Abu Tayeh, said the Israeli municipal crews, escorted by police officers, ordered the evacuation of the holy site within no more than a week’s time.
More. . .

❺ Opinion
From: MONDOWEISS
END  OF  LOCKSTEP  US  JEWISH  SUPPORT  FOR  ISRAEL  IS  A  TRIUMPH  NOT  A  TRAGEDY
Philip Weiss
August 19, 2015
It’s all over but the shouting. Politico says that Republicans might not even have the 60 votes needed to get cloture and end a Democratic filibuster that would prevent passage of a disapproval bill of the Iran deal.
Indeed, the most pressing question at this point is whether they can even get the 60 votes in opposition that are needed to break a filibuster and get a disapproval resolution to Obama’s desk. Senate Majority Mitch McConnell himself has all but said overriding a veto isn’t going to happen as Congress prepares to vote on the deal when it returns from its month long recess in September.
____This is complete tea-leaf reading, but here are the last three quotes on Senator Cory Booker’s Facebook page. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough, says FDR. And Constant kindness can accomplish much, Schweitzer.
More . . .
From POLITCO . . .

“THE  WAY,”  BY  FOUZI  EL  AZMAR
I shall not despair;
Whether my way leads to a jail,
under the sun
or in exile
I shall not despair.

It is my right to behold the sun
To demolish the tent and banishment
To eat the fruit of the olive
To water the vineyards
with music
To sing of Love
in Jaffa, in Haifa
To sow the fertile land
with new seeds
It is my right.

Let my way
be the reaching of one hand to another
That a tower of dreams be built

This is my way
And if the last price to pay
is my sight
my life
I shall
but will not give up
my way.

From: El Azmar, Fouzi. POEMS  FROM  AN  ISRAELI  PRISON. Intro. By Israel Shahak. New York: KNOW Books, 1973.
Available from Amazon
About Fouzi El Azmar

Caption: Italian group of women and Kafr Qaddum protesters asking for the opening of the Kafr Qaddum village road. Weekly demonstration, May 1, 2015. ISM photo.
Italian group of women and Kafr Qaddum protesters asking for the opening of the Kafr Qaddum village road. Weekly demonstration, May 1, 2015. ISM photo.