“. . . you get angry send an armed messenger polite to tell me: Come . . . “(Yusif [Yusuf] Hamdan)

A monk stands next to
A monk stands next to “PRICE TAG” graffiti sprayed by vandals on a wall at the entrance to the Latrun Monastery near Jerusalem September 4, 2012. REUTERS Baz Ratner

❶ From: ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE *** (Note below)
PRICE  TAG”  AND  EXTREMIST  ATTACKS  IN  ISRAEL
August 5, 2015
Since 2008, there have been repeated attacks carried out by extremist Israeli Jews against Israeli Arabs and Palestinians, often in reprisal for Israeli government action against illegal settlement activity. These attacks, which are frequently labeled “price tag” incidents, target mosques, churches, Arab and Jewish homes and property, Israeli military bases and vehicles, as well as other Israeli Jews. They involve the desecration of property with anti-Arab and anti-government slogans. MOST OF THESE ATTACKS INCLUDE THE PHRASE “PRICE TAG” AND ARE ACCOMPANIED BY HATEFUL AND RACIST SLOGANS, the name of an illegal settlement, or a reference to an Israeli casualty of Palestinian terrorism, the implication being that THE VIOLENT INCIDENT IS THE “COST” OF ISRAELI GOVERNMENT ACTION on settlements or for anti-Israeli violence.
More. . .
(*** is an international Jewish non-governmental organization based in the United States. Describing itself as “the nation’s premier civil rights/human relations agency,” the ADL states that it “fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects civil rights for all,” doing so through “information, education, legislation, and advocacy.”)

❷ From: MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
ISRAELI  SETTLERS  TORCH  BEDOUIN  TENT  NEAR  RAMALLAH
August, 13, 2015
RAMALLAH ― Israeli settlers torched a Bedouin tent in the area of Ein Samiya near Kafr Malik village in northern Ramallah Thursday morning, local sources told Ma’an.
____A group of Israeli settlers raided the village of Ein Samiya and threw flammable material on a Bedouin tent before the residents noticed and attacked the settlers, forcing them to flee the area.
____An Israeli army spokesperson confirmed the attack but could give no further details.
____The fire caused substantial damages to the tent but locals were able to put the fire out without any injuries, locals said.
____Israeli settlers also SPRAYED “PRICE TAG” NEAR THE SCENE AND SIGNED SLOGANS CALLING FOR THE KILLING OF PALESTINIANS and expelling them out of their lands.
More. . .   

❸ From: MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
ISRAELI  TROOPS  DETAIN  12  PALESTINIANS  IN  THE  WEST  BANK
Aug. 13, 2015
HEBRON ― Israeli forces detained 12 Palestinians across the occupied West Bank overnight on Wednesday, locals told Ma’an.
____Two of the Palestinians were detained in the Jordan Valley, two close to Ramallah, two near Bethlehem, and one in southwest Jenin, an Israeli military spokesperson said.
____Israeli forces also detained two men from villages near Hebron. The two men have been identified asIsmail Youssef Tmeizi, 35, from Ithna and Mushir Abd al-Qader al-Shahatit, 29, from the Kharsa village in Dura.
____The men were detained after Israeli forces raided and searched their homes. . . .
More. . .

Israeli soldiers on patrol in the occupied West Bank (AFP/Abbas Momani, File)
Israeli soldiers on patrol in the occupied West Bank (AFP/Abbas Momani, File)

❹ From: From INTERNATIONAL MIDDLE EAST MEDIA CENTER (IMEMC)
ISRAEL  DENIES  WATER  ACCESS  TO  MORE  PALESTINIAN  VILLAGES
August 12, 2015
During the hottest month of the year, the Israeli occupation has cut off water from three more Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank.
____The villages of Qarawat Bani Hassan, Biddya and Sarta, in the West Bank cityu of Nablus, have received only a partial supply of water, leaving almost half of their residents without running water on certain days.
____Mayor of Qarawat Bani Hassan, Aziz Aasi, said that the Israeli water company “Mekorot” had begun lowering the water quota for the villages, causing water pressure to drop.
____“Following the decrease in water pressure, all the houses that are in the higher parts of the towns were left without a drop,” he said, according to Days of Palestine.
More. . .

❺ Opinion
From: +972 MAGAZINE
OCCUPATION  IS  THE REAL  ‘JEWISH  TERRORISM’
Samah Salaime
August 9, 2015
I’ve recently tried to figure out the over-use of the phrase “Jewish terror” . . . According to Wikipedia, “Jewish terror” refers to terrorism carried out by Jews against Arabs since the establishment of the state, with some incidents here and there of Jews targeting other Jews.
[. . . .]
____Under “Palestinian terror” were descriptions of Palestinian actions defined as . . . . “Terror activities were principally invasions into Jewish neighborhoods and settlements, murders of their residents, ambushes of vehicles, and the burning of Jewish-owned orchards and fields.”
____Surely there must be a mistake here. This is exactly what settlers have been doing to Palestinians for quite some time, under the supervision of the army . . . instances of ransacking and harassment, burglary of land and property, vandalism, hostility, destruction of land, uprooting of trees . . . destruction of houses, paving of roads and interruption of the West Bank in every direction. How do we call this form of terror? Ah, yes, “occupation.” Suddenly it made sense: Jewish occupation / Jewish terror.
More. . .

“THE  TRUTH  IS  SAID,”  BY  YUSUF  HAMDAN
I say that I hate occupation
you get angry
wake the mountain from its sleep
and chide the fox for forgetting
and you draw the arrest order

I say that I hate war and fighting
you get angry
send an armed messenger
polite
to tell me: Come!
and when I smile
you drown in insults and coughs

I say that I hate oppression
and that all I have
of progressive papers is Al-Itthad
you get angry
and from the sky
you pour Jerusalem and the News
al-Subh and al-Masa
and New Outlook
and other names

I say that I hate rape
you get angry
and honor me in a prison cell
and inflict punishment upon me
and guard me from my friends

I say that I love Justice
you hate it!

I say that I hate injustice
you love it
and if you get angry
there is the ocean drink it!

My anger drips oil and honey
my pain bears almonds, flouts, and roses
so jail my piece of bread
I defy

From: THE PALESTINIAN 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.
Also in: Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics & Culture. Vol.14 No.1 2007.
Yusuf Hamdan was born in 1942 in the Triangle area of Palestine. He lived in Haifa in the early ‘60s and taught in a nearby Arabic school. He published his poems in al-Jadid, al-Ittihad, and al-Ghad, and lost his teaching position because of his poetry. In 1970 he left Israel for the US, where he presently lives and works.
Al-Ittihad (The Union) is an Israeli Arabic-language daily newspaper based in Haifa. Once considered the most important Arab media outlet in Israel, it is owned by Maki, the Israeli Communist Party. It is currently edited by Aida Touma-Suleiman.
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