❶ From: PALESTINE NEWS NETWORK
IOF  TO  BAN  MUSLIMS,  ALLOW  SETTLERS  INTO  IBRAHIMI  MOSQUE  ON  THURSDAY
August 12, 2015
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Tuesday night announced will to close the Ibrahimi mosque (Haram) in the old city of Hebron, southern West Bank, for the Muslim worshipers under the pretext of “Jewish occasions. “Local sources said that IOF announced the mosque will be closed in the face of Muslims Thursday early morning, until the evening, but will be opened for Israeli Jewish settlers.
____The mosque is regularly closed down by Israeli forces under the same pretext, but Jewish settlers are given full privilege to break into the mosque whenever desired.
[. . . .]
____IOF have often prevented the call for prayers (Adan) from the mosque, violating the religious freedom of Muslims.
____The Israeli minister of army, Moshe Ya’alon on Tuesday morning broke into the mosque “to carry out Jewish prayers” in midst of tight security guardianship.
More. . .

❷ From: PALESTINE NEWS AND INFORMATION AGENCY – WAFA
GRAND  MUFTI  CONDEMNS  ISRAEL’S  DECISION  TO  BUILD  SYNAGOGUE  IN  OLD  JERUSALEM
August 12, 2015
JERUSALEM, (WAFA) – The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Mohammad Hussein, condemned on Wednesday the ongoing construction of a Jewish synagogue upon the ruins of an Islamic site in the Old City of Jerusalem.
____He said the construction of the synagogue comes as part of a “Judaization” plan which aims to transfer the holy city and areas surrounding al-Aqsa Mosque into a completely Jewish area.
____The Jordan-run Islamic Waqf, which has administrative jurisdiction over the compound, has accused Israel of attempting to “Judaize” the holy site and the city of Jerusalem.
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❸ From: AL-MONITOR (PALESTINE PULSE)
PERPETUAL  NEGLECT  JEOPARDIZES  GAZA’S  ARCHAEOLOGICAL  SITES
Rasha Abou Jalal
August 11, 2015
GAZA CITY — Some of the Gaza Strip’s most precious historical sites, dating back thousands of years, are being devastated not only by the targeted bombardments of repeated wars, but also from long-term government neglect.
____ “In addition to the Israeli attacks, cultural heritage, as well as Islamic and Christian archaeological sites, suffer from significant violations due to the neglect of successive governments,” [said] Nasser al-Yafawi, an expert on history and heritage in the Gaza Strip. . .
____He added, “These governments failed to preserve the Palestinian heritage in Gaza. They left heritage sites exposed to looting, pillaging and effacement without providing the minimal level of care that is worthy of the civilization that these sites and old buildings represent.”
More. . .

❹ From: MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
US  INTERVENES  IN  CASE  AGAINST  PALESTINIANS  OVER  ISRAEL  ATTACKS
Aug. 12, 2015
WASHINGTON ―The United States said on Tuesday it has intervened in a lawsuit against Palestinian authorities over attacks in Israel that killed and injured Americans, arguing that a high bond could compromise the Palestinians’ financial stability.
____A US jury in February found the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) liable for six attacks between 2002 and 2004, which killed 33 people . . .
____The families were awarded more than $218 million in damages, which was automatically tripled to about $650 million. . . .
____The US State Department said it had filed a Statement of Interest . . . to express concerns over the possible bond amount that could be issued in the case. . . for the PA to appeal the decision.
____The filing cited “US concerns about the harms that could arise if the ability of the Palestinian Authority to operate as a governmental authority is severely compromised.”
More. . .

❺ Opinion
From: MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
ISRAEL  STRUGGLES  WITH  RACIST  UNDERGROUND
August 11, 2015
James Dorsey
Israel is struggling with how to deal with groups . . . that are linked to a banned nationalist political party that has emerged at the core of recent racist, anti-Palestinian incidents and include a militant soccer fan group that was responsible for last month’s violent clashes during a Europa League qualifier in Belgium between Israeli club Beitar Jerusalem and Charleloi SC.
____Two government investigations of Beitar and La Familia, its notorious fan group that openly supports Kach, the banned party founded by Meir Kahane, an extremist rabbi who was assassinated in 1990, took on added significance. . . .
____ . . . the investigations have moved center stage amid recent racist and discriminatory attacks such as the firebombing of a Palestinian home that killed an 18-month-old baby . . . as well as the stabbing of participants in a gay parade by an ultra-religious repeat offender as well as allegations . . . .
[. . . .]
____Israeli leaders have condemned the firebombing as an act of terrorism and are keen to stop elements of the underground from threatening the fabric of Israeli society by escalating Israeli-Palestinian tensions.
____Israel also wants to ensure that racist incidents don’t pour grist on the mill of the growing boycott, divestment and sanctions movement that seeks to isolate Israel internationally or revive efforts by the Palestine Football Association (PFA) to get world soccer body FIFA to suspend Israel’s membership in part on the grounds of racism.
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“ALEXANDER  AND  THE  SUN  FLOWER,”  BY  MUEEN  BESSISSOU  (Mu’in  Bseiso)
The auction began,
And she was carried on a litter to Alexander’s tent.
They brought her the milk of a deer and a lioness.
And so she washed.
She was perfumed with incense;
And when they blew the horn,
A bed was fetched.
And Alexander entered.
Joys of Alexander!
He slept with her
Until the cock crowed,
Then discarded her,
To be bestowed on a king
Who abandoned her after two nights.
She was carried on a camel
And bestowed on a prince.
The incense garden burned down.
Then she was bestowed on a minister,
And down to the fifty-first man in his entourage.
And when the sea gazelle was stabbed,
And the moon became an eye of glass,
Her navel became a wine pot.
Kings and rebels drank to her health,
She learned how to lie with them.
Rainbow! Stay this winter from our skies.
Your red and blue and green
Stain our face, like mud and glue.

From: A LOVER FROM PALESTINE AND OTHER POEMS: AN ANTHOLOGY OF PALESTINIAN POETRY. Ed. Abdul Wahab Al-Messiri. Washington, DC: Free Palestine Press, 1970.
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Mu’in Bseiso (1926 – January 23, 1984)