Month: September 2015

“. . . I may lose my daily bread . . .” (Samih Al-Qasim)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
WORLD BANK: “Increasing poverty in the occupied Palestinian territory.” Palestinian school children ride a rickshaw in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on September 9, 2015. (Agence France‑Presse /Said Khatib/File)
WORLD BANK: “Increasing poverty in the occupied Palestinian territory.” Palestinian school children ride a rickshaw in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on September 9, 2015. (Agence France‑Presse /Said Khatib/File)

❶ Facing Reality: Jewish terrorism is no longer limited to just a few bad seeds
❷ World Bank warns of ‘high risk’ of Palestine-Israel conflict
❸ Israeli forces round up 36 Palestinians after West Bank clashes
❹ Analysis: Israel Has Achieved All Its Objectives
❺ Opinion/Analysis: Abbas’ peace project has hit a dead end
❻ Poetry by

(Please read “Purpose” above. Thank you.)

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❶ MONDOWEISS
FACING  REALITY:  JEWISH  TERRORISM  IS  NO  LONGER  LIMITED  TO  JUST  A  FEW  BAD  SEEDS
Karin Attia
Sept. 29, 2015
Stabbing at the Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem. Death of 16-year-old Shira Banki. Arson attack on a family home in the West Bank. Deaths of 18-month old Ali Saad Dawabsheh, his father Saad Dawabsheh’s, and mother Reham Dawabsheh.
____It is time to look inwards at a rising culture of violence rather than facile explanations about individual bad seeds. Something is growing insidiously among us: racism, intolerance and hate. With attacks occurring more frequently, these seeds are no longer limited to one crazy individual, one extremist; instead they are indicative of widespread cultural seeds of racism, intolerance, and hate. These seeds have been cultivating for some time.
More . . .
Related . . .
(Karin Attia was born in Haifa, Israel, raised in Los Angeles, California, and is currently living in New York City studying as a Master’s student at New York University.)

Artwork inside the burned-out Dawabshe home blames the Israeli government for the firebombing. (Mondoweiss Photo: Dan Cohen)
Artwork inside the burned-out Dawabshe home blames the Israeli government for the firebombing. (Mondoweiss Photo: Dan Cohen)

❷ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
WORLD  BANK  WARNS  OF  ‘HIGH  RISK’  OF  PALESTINE-ISRAEL  CONFLICT
Sept. 29, 2015
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The World Bank has warned of the “high risk” of renewed Palestine-Israel conflict following the third straight year of increasing poverty in the occupied Palestinian territory.
____In a report released Tuesday, the World Bank pointed to war, reduced donor aid, the suspension of revenue payments, and ongoing restrictions by Israel as having had “a severe impact on the Palestinian economy.”
____”The persistence of this situation could potentially lead to political and social unrest,” the report said.
____”In short, the status quo is not sustainable and downside risks of further conflict and social unrest are high,” said the World Bank.
More . . . 
Related . . .
Related . . .

❸ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
ISRAELI  FORCES  ROUND  UP  36  PALESTINIANS  AFTER  WEST  BANK  CLASHES
Sept. 30, 2015
JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — Israeli forces detained 36 Palestinians across occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank overnight Tuesday a day after violent clashes took place across the occupied Palestinian territory.
____Israeli police spokesperson Mickey Rosenfeld said . . . that all detainees were “involved in recent disturbances in and around the Old City of Jerusalem.” [. . . . .]
____A lawyer for Palestinian prisoners’ rights group Addameer, Muhammad Mahmoud, told Ma’an that Israeli forces detained four Palestinians in the southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya. [. . . . .]
____At least 18 Palestinians were injured on Tuesday when Israeli forces suppressed demonstrations across the West Bank that were held in support of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
More . . .
Related . . .
Related . . .

❹ Analysis:
PALESTINE CHRONICLE
ISRAEL  HAS  ACHIEVED  ALL  ITS  OBJECTIVES
Hasan Afif El-Hasan
Sep 29 2015
Israel never had it so good today and justice to the Palestinians never has been so remote. Arab regimes have no credible options that may threaten Israel strategically, or they do not care if Israel continues to defy the UN resolutions and the International Court of Justice rulings. They are either fighting their own people or fighting each other. The Palestinians are hopelessly divided and the Arab Masses are not expected to help because they are heavily burdened by their own issues. [. . . . .]
____After eight decades since the cleansing of Palestine from its Arab population by its military and terrorist organizations, and almost five decades after the 1967 war and the occupation of Palestinian lands, Israel has no intention to make a just peace with its victims.
More . . .

❺ Opinion/Analysis:
+972 BLOG
ABBAS’  PEACE  PROJECT  HAS  HIT  A  DEAD  END
Menachem Klein
Sept. 30, 2015
He chose the path of moderation. He agreed to a small Palestinian state alongside Israel. He won the support of America and Europe. He proved his obligation to maintaining security for Israelis. And he got nothing in return. The tragedy of Mahmoud Abbas, part one of a two-part series.
More . . .

“I  MAY  LOSE  MY  DAILY  BREAD,”  BY  SAMIH  AL-QASIM
I may lose my daily bread, if you wish
I may hawk my clothes and bed
I may become a stonecutter, or a porter
Or a street sweeper
I may search in animal dung for food
I may collapse, naked and starved
Enemy of light
I will not compromise
And to the end
I shall fight.
You may rob me of the last span of my land
You may ditch my youth in prison holes
Steel what my grandfather left me behind:
Some furniture or clothes and jars,
You may burn my poems and books
You may feed your dog on my flesh
You may impose a nightmare of your terror
On my village
Enemy of light
I shall not compromise
And to the end
I shall fight.

“Poems of Resistance: 7 Poems for Palestine.” SCOOP  WORLD  INDEPENDENT  NEWS. January 2011. Web. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1101/S00522/poems-of-resistance-7-poems-for-palestine.htm
About Samih Al-Qasim

File photo shows Israeli forces arresting a young Palestinian near the occupied West Bank city of al-Khalil near Hebron. (PressTV photo)
File photo shows Israeli forces arresting a young Palestinian near the occupied West Bank city of al-Khalil near Hebron. (PressTV photo)

“. . . Life will flow, surely it will flow into all our villages anew. . .” (Jabra Ibrahim Jabra)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
Dianne Feinstein meets with Palestinians from Susiya. (Photo from Dianne Feinstein’s Twitter feed.)
United States Senator Dianne Feinstein meets with Palestinians from Susiya. (Photo from Dianne Feinstein’s Twitter feed.)

❶ Palestinians bring US attention to plight of threatened village
❷ Israel notifies Salfit farmers of plans to remove 140 olive trees
❸ West Bank wall threatens Palestine’s flora, fauna
❹ Photo exhibit challenges Zionism’s most popular myth
❺ Analysis: New Report Documents How Israel Keeps Palestinians off Third of West Bank Land
❻ Poetry by Jabra Ibrahim Jabra

(Please read “Purpose” above. Thank you.)

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❶ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
PALESTINIANS  BRING  US  ATTENTION  TO  PLIGHT  OF  THREATENED  VILLAGE
Sept. 29, 2015
WASHINGTON (AFP) — Six Palestinians came to Washington to secure support against Israeli plans to raze their tiny West Bank village of Susiya, and at the last minute FOUND ASSISTANCE FROM US SENATOR DIANNE FEINSTEIN.
____The hamlet, which has been torn down before and mainly consists of tents and makeshift structures for homes, is among a number of communities threatened with demolition by the Israeli army and has become a symbol of the occupation of the West Bank.
____For Susiya’s proponents, any gesture or public recognition, regardless of how small, by an elected member of the US Congress is a boost they can use as leverage in pressuring Israel’s authorities.
____The US State Department warned this summer that demolition of the village would be “harmful and provocative.” Since then the army has been deliberating the issue, and a deadline has been set for Oct. 13.
More . . .

❷ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
ISRAEL  NOTIFIES  SALFIT  FARMERS  OF  PLANS  TO  REMOVE  140  OLIVE  TREES
Sept. 28, 2015
NABLUS (Ma’an) — Israeli authorities on Monday delivered notices to Palestinian farmers informing them of plans to remove 140 olive trees from the town of Qarawat Bani Hassan in Salfit district in the occupied West Bank, the farmers told Ma’an.
____They said that the trees are located in the al-Safar area of the town, which Israeli officials consider a nature reserve.
More . . .

❸ AL-MONITOR (PALESTINE PULSE)
WEST  BANK  WALL  THREATENS  PALESTINE’S  FLORA,  FAUNA
Ahmad Melhem
Sept. 27, 2015
RAMALLAH, West Bank — The West Bank barrier project has been condemned by many for its crushing effects on the Palestinian people. Now steps are underway to document its devastation of nature and wildlife as well. The Palestinian Environment Quality Authority and the Ministry of Agriculture plan to prepare and present to the United Nations a comprehensive study on the direct consequences of the wall and its long-term hazardous effects on the environment.
More . . .

A Palestinian walks with his horse past a section of the controversial Israeli barrier, in Shuafat refugee camp in the West Bank, near Jerusalem, Nov. 21, 2013. (photo by REUTERS/Ammar Awad)
A Palestinian walks with his horse past a section of the controversial Israeli barrier, in Shuafat refugee camp in the West Bank, near Jerusalem, Nov. 21, 2013. (photo by REUTERS/Ammar Awad)

❹ +972 BLOG
PHOTO  EXHIBIT  CHALLENGES  ZIONISM’S  MOST  POPULAR  MYTH
Tom Pessah
Sept. 27, 2015
Using haunting aerial photographs of the Negev Desert, American artist Fazal Sheikh challenges the notion that the desert was an unpopulated land before Zionism made it bloom.
More . . .

❺ Analysis:
THE MIDDLE EAST MONITOR (MEM)
NEW  REPORT  DOCUMENTS  HOW  ISRAEL  KEEPS  PALESTINIANS  OFF  THIRD  OF  WEST  BANK  LAND
Sept. 29 2015
Around a third of the entire West Bank is closed to Palestinians as Israeli military zones, according to a new report.
___“Walled Garden – Declaration of Closed Areas in the West Bank” is published by Israeli non-profit NGO Kerem Navot, and authored by long-time activist and settlements monitor Dror Etkes.
___The report, now available here on Middle East Monitor, reveals the ways in which the Israeli authorities have designated more than 1.7 million dunams as closed military zones.
(Link to full report included.)
More . . .

“THE  MOUTH  OF  THE  WELL,”  BY  JABRA  IBRAHIM  JABRA

[During the massacre of Deir Yassin, the enemy flung the bodies of its victim in the village well.]

Mouth of the well,
Where the hands of playful young maidens
Met in friendship, pouring
Spring water into the jugs,
Amidst merriment and song.
Was it suddenly to become an opening to nothingness,
That opening of a grave, stuffed with young maidens
And bleeding pregnant women,
Their blood mixed with gunpowder?
Did the clusters of grapes around it shrivel up and dry?
Was the wheat scorched, and did the oilskins
Spill their contents on the scattered stones,
And was Jesus crucified there once more?
The mouth of the well will be our second Golgotha.
From its bloodied opening will pour forth
Black lava, smoldering and sizzling,
Mixed with the flesh of young women and pregnant women.
To destroy
Those who sowed death
And fed the eagles of our land.
Then, from its sacred and abundant fertility,
Life will flow, surely it will flow
Into all our villages anew.

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.
About Jabra Ibrahim Jabra

Israeli regime committed war crimes in Deir Yassin by ethnic cleansing of a whole population. The massacre of the Palestinian small town of Deir Yassin in 9th of April, 1948. The “democracy” on which the State of Israel is built.
Israeli regime committed war crimes in Deir Yassin by ethnic cleansing of a whole population. The massacre of the Palestinian small town of Deir Yassin in 9th of April, 1948. The “democracy” on which the State of Israel is built.


“. . . You stabbed my dreams What did you hide? . . .” (Tawfiq Zayyad)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
PROTECTING ISRAELI 'SETTLERS.' A little girl makes her way through Qitoun checkpoint carrying a balloon. It is the beginning of the Eid holiday (Christian Peacemaker Teams photo, 22 September 2015).
PROTECTING ISRAELI ‘SETTLERS.’ A little Palestinian girl makes her way through Qitoun checkpoint on her way to school carrying a balloon. It is the beginning of the Eid holiday (Christian Peacemaker Teams photo, 22 September 2015).

❶ New clashes as Israeli forces raid Al-Aqsa Mosque compound
❷ Historical Analysis: No Morality in Zionism – On the ‘Independence’ of Settler Minorities
❸ Arresting four children from the village of Al-Tur
❹ Many Injured By Israeli Army Fire in Bethlehem, Teen Kidnapped In Jerusalem
❺ Opinion/Analysis: The IDF must come clean about the Hebron shooting
❻ Poetry by Tawfiq Zayyad

(Please read “Purpose” above. Thank you.)

◊  ◊  ◊  ◊  ◊  ◊

❶ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
NEW  CLASHES  AS  ISRAELI  FORCES  RAID  AL-AQSA  MOSQUE  COMPOUND
Sept. 28, 2015
JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — Israeli forces raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Monday and deployed heavily in the courtyard, leading to clashes with Palestinian worshipers ahead of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.
____Officials from the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Endowment told Ma’an that dozens of Israeli forces raided the holy site and fired stun grenades and rubber-coated steel bullets “haphazardly” in the area.
____Sources with the Jordanian-run organisation that administers the site, the Waqf, told AFP that police stun grenades provoked four fires inside the building that were brought under control.
____Around 15 snipers deployed on the roof of the southern mosque, while Israeli forces in riot gear were stationed in the main courtyards.
More . . .

PROTECTING RHODESIAN 'SETTLERS.' A black Rhodesian prisoner detained for questioning in Lupane, Southern Rhodesia in Sept. 1977. Pulitzer Prize Winning photo by J. Ross Baughman
PROTECTING RHODESIAN ‘SETTLERS.’
A black Rhodesian prisoner detained for questioning in Lupane, Southern Rhodesia in Sept. 1977. Pulitzer Prize Winning photo by J. Ross Baughman

❷ Historical Analysis
PALESTINE CHRONICLE
NO  MORALITY  IN  ZIONISM  –  ON  THE  ‘INDEPENDENCE’  OF SETTLER  MINORITIES
Jeremy Salt
– Jeremy Salt is an associate professor of Middle Eastern history and politics at Bilkent University in Ankara.
In the Middle East and Africa there are two striking parallels to the Palestinian experience. The first is Algeria, where invasion and occupation began in 1830 and did not end until 1962. Until the implantation of the Zionist state in Palestine, Algeria was the worst example of colonialism in the late imperial world [. . . . .]
____ The second relevant case study is Rhodesia. Protectorates and chartered companies were integral to imperial best practice up to the 19th century and beyond. [. . . . .]
____From the very beginning of the Zionist venture up to the present day Israel has been faithful to its own ‘principles’. In no way do they confirm to the principles of international law and indeed, Israel can only remain what it is by living permanently in breach of international law.
More . . .

❸ WADI HILWEH INFORMATION CENTER – SILWAN
ARRESTING  FOUR  CHILDREN  FROM  THE  VILLAGE  OF  AL-TUR
Sept. 28, 2015
The occupation forces arrested four children from the village of Al-Tur east of the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem on Monday early morning.
____Sources from the village explained to Wadi Hilweh Information Center that the occupation forces raided several houses and arrested four children aged between 11-13 years.
More . . .

❹ IMEMC-INTERNATIONAL MIDDLE EAST MEDIA CENTER
MANY  INJURED  BY  ISRAELI  ARMY  FIRE  IN  BETHLEHEM,  TEEN  KIDNAPPED  IN  JERUSALEM
Sept. 28, 2015
Many Palestinians suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation, on Sunday evening, after several Israeli military vehicles invaded Teqoua’ town, east of Bethlehem. Soldiers also kidnapped a teen in Jerusalem.
____ The Israeli invasion into Teqoua’ town led to clashes between the soldiers, and dozens of local youths; the army fired gas bombs and rubber-coated steel bullets causing many residents to suffer the effects of tear gas inhalation.
More . . .

❺ Opinion/Analysis
+972 BLOG
THE  IDF  MUST  COME  CLEAN  ABOUT  THE  HEBRON  SHOOTING
Why is the Israeli army refusing to release its footage from the shooting of 18-year-old Hadeel al-Hashlamon?
Noam Rotem
Sept. 27, 2015
Israeli soldiers shot to death Hadeel al-Hashlamon, 18, in Hebron last week while she was apparently on her way to school. Found inside the black bag she was carrying were notebooks, a blue Pilot pen, a brown pencil case, a cellular phone, and other things girls of her age take to school.
____The IDF Spokesperson says that the metal detector at the urban checkpoint beeped when she passed through it, and that she ignored orders to stop from the soldiers, who the shot her. It was then discovered that she had a knife, and when she still didn’t stop they shot her some more.
____Witnesses told various reporters that Hashlamon simply didn’t understand the orders being shouted at her — she didn’t speak Hebrew
More . . .

“AFTER  THE  JUNE  AGGRESSION,”  BY  TAWFIQ  ZAYYAD
What did you hide
for to-morrow
You shed my blood
and dimmed the light
of my eyes
You silenced my pen
and usurped the right
of peaceful men
who did not sin

What did you hide
for to-morrow
you rent my flag
and opened wounds
in my skin
You stabbed my dreams
What did you hide?

We’re deeper than the sea
and taller than the stars
Our breath is long
longer than space

Which mother, I wonder
inherited you half the Canal
Which mother inherited you the Jordan Bank
the sand, petroleum, and the Heights
He who forcibly takes a right
must guard his own
When the balance shifts

(Note: the “aggression” is the Six-Day War if 1967 in which Israel conquered The West Bank to the Jordan River, the Golan Heights in Syria, and the Sinai Peninsula to the Suez Canal in Egypt.)

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.
About Tawfiq Zayyad

Israeli security forces take position on the roof of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem's Old City during clashes with Palestinians on Sept. 28, 2015. (AFP/Thomas Coex)
Israeli security forces take position on the roof of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City during clashes with Palestinians on Sept. 28, 2015. (AFP/Thomas Coex)

“. . . But I, a human, a refugee, Oh land of my homeland . . .” (Salem Jubran)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
A boy holding his belongings in the besieged Yarmouk camp, south of Damascus. Thousands have reportedly fled the camp, after Isis invaded it. (Rame Alsayed/Reuters)
A boy holding his belongings in the besieged Yarmouk camp, south of Damascus. Thousands have reportedly fled the camp, after Isis invaded it. (Rame Alsayed/Reuters)

❶ Opinion/Analysis: Israel tries to reap cheap PR from Syrian refugee tragedy
❷ Heads of Churches in Jerusalem denounce Israeli attacks on mosques
❸ Rafah farmers watch in horror as Egypt floods Gaza tunnels
❹ Israeli police holding 4 Palestinian youths over driver’s death
❺ Opinion/Analysis: Is Bibi using J’lem violence as an excuse to target all Arabs?
❻ Poetry by Salem Jubran

(Please read “Purpose” above. Thank you.)

◊  ◊  ◊  ◊  ◊  ◊

❶ Opinion/Analysis
THE PALESTINIAN INFORMATION CENTER
ISRAEL  TRIES  TO  REAP  CHEAP  PR FROM  SYRIAN  REFUGEE  TRAGEDY
Khalid Amayreh in Occupied Palestine
Sept. 11, 2015
Israel is striving to reap cheap public relations from the heart-rending crisis surrounding Syrian refugees fleeing death and destruction in their country.
____Israeli officials and media have been claiming that the erection by Hungary of a barbed wire fence on part of its borders to prevent refugees from entering that country is a vindication of Israel’s policy of building “the separation wall” in the West Bank.
More . . .

❷ PALESTINE NEWS NETWORK
HEADS  OF  CHURCHES  IN  JERUSALEM  DENOUNCE  ISRAELI  ATTACKS  ON  MOSQUES
Sept. 22, 2015
The Heads of Churches in Jerusalem on Monday have released statement expressing serious concerns regarding recent violent development on Haram al Sharif.

“We condemn all threats of change to historical (Status Quo) situation in the Al-Aqsa Mosque (Haram Asharif) and its courtyard, all buildings, and in the city of Jerusalem. Any threat to its continuity and integrity could easily lead to unpredictable consequences which would be most unwelcome in the present delicate political climate.” statement said.

More . . .

❸ AL-MONITOR (PALESTINE PULSE)
RAFAH  FARMERS  WATCH  IN  HORROR  AS  EGYPT  FLOODS  GAZA  TUNNELS
Mohammed Othman
Sept. 25, 2015
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — The Egyptian army has been pumping large volumes of Mediterranean Sea waters since Sept. 17 into the buffer zone that it began building two years ago, along 14 kilometers of the Palestinian-Egyptian border. The move is the latest attempt to destroy the tunnels dug by Palestinians under the city of Rafah over the years of the Israeli blockade.
____The operation is causing concern for the Rafah border area inhabitants, who say that it will affect their lives there. Farmer Nayef Abu Shallouf, who owns three acres of land less than 300 meters from the Egyptian border, said all the salt water will leave his land briny and destroy his crops. He told Al-Monitor, “In addition to damaging the soil, sinkholes will appear wherever tunnels were dug, with collapses occurring sooner or later.”
More . . .

❹ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
ISRAELI  POLICE  HOLDING  4  PALESTINIAN  YOUTHS  OVER  DRIVER’S  DEATH
Sept. 26, 2015
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israeli police said Saturday that they were holding four Palestinians aged 16-19 who they accuse of causing an Israeli driver’s death by throwing stones at his car earlier this month.
____Israeli police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld said the four Palestinians, from the East Jerusalem village of Sur Baher, were detained on suspicion of “carrying out the attack over the Jewish new year.”
____Rosenfeld said: “They admitted carrying out the attack. They planned it ahead of time.” [. . . . .]
____Israeli police have said they believe the Israeli driver, 64-year-old Alexander Levlovich, lost control of his car after a stone was thrown at it on Sept. 13, during the Jewish new year holiday.
____They have so far released no evidence, and shortly after the accident took place the Jerusalem’s Magistrate Court issued a gag order on details of the incident.
More . . .

❺ Opinion/Analysis
+972 MAGAZINE
IS  BIBI  USING  J’LEM  VIOLENCE  AS  AN  EXCUSE  TO  TARGET  ALL  ARABS?
John Brown and Michal Rotem
Sept. 27, 2015
Netanyahu is trying to expand the open-fire regulations so that they target Arabs inside Israel. The outcome? Only more bloodshed. . . .
____Government representatives compete with one another over who will offer up the firmest way to deal with these youth in order to “do away with this phenomenon.” Of course none of them offers dealing with neglected East Jerusalem, the discrimination, the home demolitions. . . or the fact that there is no framework to take care of children and teenagers after school is over. It is strange that not a single politician has offered to shoot settlers when they throw stones following the demolition of their illegal structures in the West Bank. The opposite is true: they are granted hundreds of new housing units.
More . . .

“A  REFUGEE,”  BY  SALEM  JUBRAN
The sun crosses the frontier
the soldiers bullets it does not fear
and the nightingale sings
at midday in Tulkarm
and east supper in peace
with Jewish birds in the kibbutz
. . . a stray donkey feeds on the line
without a bullet in the spine
But I; a human, refugee
Oh land of my Homeland
my eyes and yours
are ever separate by a wall.

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. 
About Salem Jubran

A Palestinian is carried after being wounded in clashes with Border Police officers in the Old City of Jerusalem, September 13, 2015. (photo: Faiz Abu-Rmeleh/Activestills.org)
A Palestinian is carried after being wounded in clashes with Border Police officers in the Old City of Jerusalem, September 13, 2015. (photo: Faiz Abu-Rmeleh/Activestills.org)

“. . . A shameful scar―in the face of the executioner over there. . .” (Mahmoud Darwish)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
If it were not so outrageous and tyrannical, it would be comical. Palestinian young person being arrested by Israeli forces for alleged stone throwing. Three to one, and the one is a child. (APF file photo)
If it were not so outrageous and tyrannical, it would be comical. Palestinian young person being arrested by Israeli forces for alleged stone throwing. Three to one, and the one is a child. (APF file photo)

❶ PLO: Israel’s new live fire law ‘dehumanizes a whole nation’
❷ Nablus police chief, 3-year-old daughter injured by Israeli fire
❸ Three Injured by Army Fire near Bethlehem, Soldiers Attack Journalists In Nablus
❹ On the first day of Al-Adha Eid…arresting 13 Jerusalemites
❺ Opinion/Analysis: The questions nobody is asking about Hebron shooting
❻ Poetry by Mahmoud Darwish

(Please read “Purpose” above. Thank you.)

◊   ◊   ◊   ◊   ◊   ◊

❶ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
PLO:  ISRAEL’S  NEW  LIVE  FIRE  LAW  ‘DEHUMANIZES  A  WHOLE  NATION’
Sept. 26, 2015
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The PLO Secretary General on Saturday said that new Israeli regulations authorizing forces to use live ammunition in occupied East Jerusalem expand the level under which the lives of Palestinians can be directly targeted.
____Israel’s security cabinet on Thursday broadened the rules whereby stone-throwers can be targeted with live fire, allowing Israeli forces to open fire when they determine that the life of a third party is under threat.
____Arguing that the new law gifts Israeli soldiers with wide discretion for determining circumstances of threat, Saeb Erekat described the measures as “a mere pretext to justify the escalating Israeli crimes against the people of Palestine.”
____”The Israeli government continues to incite against Palestinian lives, with a culture of hate that dehumanizes a whole nation,” Erekat said.
More . . .
Background . . .
Related . . .

Three-year-old Maram Abed al-Latif al-Qaddumi was shot in the head by Israeli forces with a rubber bullet in the occupied West Bank town of Kafr Qaddum. (MaanImages/Murad Ishteiwi)
Three-year-old Maram Abed al-Latif al-Qaddumi was shot in the head by Israeli forces with a rubber bullet in the occupied West Bank town of Kafr Qaddum. (MaanImages/Murad Ishteiwi)

❷ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
NABLUS  POLICE  CHIEF,  3-YEAR-OLD  DAUGHTER  INJURED  BY  ISRAELI  FIRE
Sept. 25, 2015
NABLUS (Ma’an) — The chief of police in the Nablus district and his three-year-old daughter were injured after being shot by Israeli forces with rubber-coated bullets on Friday during a raid in the village of Kafr Qaddum in Qalqiliya.
____A Fatah leader in Kafr Qaddum, Murad Ishteiwi, told Ma’an that Israeli forces directly shot at three-year-old Maram Abed al-Latif al-Qaddumi, injuring her with a rubber-coated steel bullet in the head while she was standing on a balcony in her home.
____Isheiwi added that when her father, Colonel Abd al-Latif al-Qaddumi, attempted to aid her and take her to the hospital in his car, Israeli forces opened fire, injuring him in the head.
More . . . 

❸ INTERNATIONAL MIDDLE EAST MEDIA CENTER (IMEMC)
THREE  INJURED  BY  ARMY  FIRE  NEAR  BETHLEHEM,  SOLDIERS  ATTACK  JOURNALISTS  IN  NABLUS
Sept. 26, 2015
Palestinian medical sources have reported, on Friday evening, that three Palestinians were injured by live Israeli army fire in Teqoua’ town, east of Bethlehem. . . . The army also attacked, and wounded, two journalists near the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
____Head of the Teqoua’ Local Council, Taiseer Abu Mfarreh, told the WAFA News agency that three young men were shot in their thighs, during clashes that took place with the soldiers after the several Israeli military vehicles invaded Khalil al-Wazeer area, in the center of the town. [. . . . .]
Cameraman Abbas al-Momani said that, as he and his team reached the main entrance of Beit Forik, the soldiers assaulted them, and smashed their equipment. He added that the soldiers also attacked, and injured, a foreign journalist . . .
More . . .

❹ WADI HILWEH INFORMATION CENTER – SILWAN
ON  THE  FIRST  DAY  OF  AL-ADHA  EID…ARRESTING  13  JERUSALEMITES
Friday, September 25, 2015
Silwan, Jerusalem (SILWANIC) — The occupation forces arrested on Thursday early morning (first day of Al-Adha Eid) 8 Jerusalemites from the neighborhood of Ras Al-Amoud in Silwan and handed another a call for interrogation.
____Wadi Hilweh Information Center was informed that the occupation forces raided the neighborhood of Ras Al-Amoud and arrested . . .
____The locals explained to the center that the occupation forces fired a sound grenades and rubber bullets while raiding the courtyard of a house to hand the interrogation calls.
____Amjad Abu Asab, head of Jerusalemites detainees and prisoners families committee, explained that the forces also arrested 4 Jerusalemites from the village of Sur Baher.
More . . .

Israeli policemen patrol a street in the Arab East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber following clashes in Jerusalem, Sept. 18, 2015. (photo by REUTERS/Ammar Awad)
Israeli policemen patrol a street in the Arab East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber following clashes in Jerusalem, Sept. 18, 2015. (photo by REUTERS/Ammar Awad)

❺ Opinion/Analysis
+972 MAGAZINE
THE  QUESTIONS  NOBODY  IS  ASKING  ABOUT  HEBRON  SHOOTING
Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man
Sept. 24, 2015
Could Israeli soldiers have arrested, instead of killed a young knife-yielding woman in Hebron? And what will happen to those soldiers if it turns out they shot when they didn’t need to?
____A young Palestinian woman was shot dead by Israeli soldiers in the occupied city of Hebron Tuesday morning, hours before the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur and the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.
____As usual, there are — at least — two conflicting narratives. There are also a number of details everyone agrees on.
More . . .
Another American Jewish opinion piece, from MONDOWEISS:
AMNESTY:  KILLING  OF  HADEEL  AL-HASHLAMOUN  WAS  ‘EXTRAJUDICIAL  EXECUTION’
By Ben Norton

“A  DIALOGUE  WITH  A  MAN  WHO  HATES  ME,”  BY  MAHMOUD  DARWISH
Rome was burnt, O crazy man
Rome is more durable than Nero
Rome will not grasp your poems
She can recite them by heart
Rome will slice your strings
My tunes arise from my heart
Your voice echoes a miserable past
My voice echoes a rocket rage
Your path is long
I shall not tire
Yehuda** sold you
I shall not be crucified
My ancestors were cremated in Auschwitz
My heart is with them
Pull out the wires from my skin
And the wounds of yesterday?
A shameful scar―in the face of the executioner over there
What do you carry in your head
A little wheat
What’s in your chest?
A picture of a wound
Your face reflects a rancor color
My face reflects the color of the earth
Then convert your sword into plowshare
You did not leave me land to plow
You criminal!
I did not steal―did not kill―didn’t oppress
You Arab! You are a dog!
O man, may God cure your soul
Why don’t you try the taste of love
Why don’t you make way for the sun!!

** The Israeli town of Or Yehuda was established in 1950 on the lands of the depopulated Palestinian villages of Saqiya and Kfar ‘Ana. Jews from Iraq and North Africa settled there.

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.
Mahmoud Darwish Obituary

Assault rifles versus rocks. (AFP/File)
Assault rifles versus rocks. (AFP/File)

“. . . Rub salt into every wound old wounds new wounds . . .” (Fouzi El Asmar)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
A masked Palestinian youth throws stones towards Israeli security forces during clashes at the Shuafat refugee camp in East Jerusalem on Sept. 18, 2015. (AFP/File Ahmad Gharabli)
A masked Palestinian youth throws stones towards Israeli security forces during clashes at the Shuafat refugee camp in East Jerusalem on Sept. 18, 2015. (AFP/File Ahmad Gharabli)

❶ Israel broadens rules on use of live fire against stone-throwers
❷ Palestinian shot by Israeli fire dies of wounds
❸ Palestinian detainee in critical condition despite ongoing PA concerns
❹ Taybeh Golden Hotel Opens Its Doors for Oktoberfest
❺ Opinion/Analysis: What’s behind Netanyahu’s war on stone throwers
❻ Poetry by Fouzi El Asmar

(Please read “Purpose” above. Thank you.)

◊  ◊  ◊  ◊  ◊  ◊

❶ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
ISRAEL  BROADENS  RULES  ON  USE  OF  LIVE  FIRE  AGAINST  STONE-THROWERS
Sept. 24, 2015
JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel’s security cabinet on Thursday broadened the rules under which stone-throwers can be targeted by live fire, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said.
____”The security cabinet has decided to authorize police to use live ammunition against people throwing stones and Molotov cocktails when the life of a third person is threatened and no longer only when the police officer is threatened,” a statement said. [. . . . .]
____The use of .22 caliber bullets — long used as a crowd control method in the occupied West Bank — will be allowed in occupied East Jerusalem in circumstances that Israeli forces determine are life-threatening.
More . . .

❷ THE PALESTINIAN INFORMATION CENTER
PALESTINIAN  SHOT  BY  ISRAELI  FIRE  DIES  OF  WOUNDS
Sept. 25, 2015
NABLUS, (PIC)– A Palestinian young man has died of wounds he sustained after being shot and critically injured by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) at a military checkpoint in the West Bank city of Nablus last week.
____Palestinian medical sources said Ahmad Khatatbeh, 25, succumbed to his injuries after being shot at Beit Furik checkpoint in eastern Nablus last Friday.
____Israeli sources claimed that Ahmed Khatabteh allegedly threw a Molotov cocktail at an Israeli car. . .
____However, family sources affirmed that Israeli soldiers stationed at the checkpoint suddenly opened fire at Khatatbeh while driving along with his two friends on their way back home.
____Khatatbeh did not understand what happened as he was born deaf and mute, the family stressed.
More . . .

❸ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
PALESTINIAN  DETAINEE  IN  CRITICAL  CONDITION  DESPITE  ONGOING  PA  CONCERNS
Sept. 24, 2015
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — The health condition of Palestinian prisoner Sami Abu Diak, 33, has reached a critical stage despite repeated calls by the Palestinian Authority for the Israeli Prison Service to address his medical needs.
____PA Minister of Health Jawad Awad sent a medical delegation, headed by the general director of primary health Kamal al-Shakhra, to visit Abu Diak at the Assaf HaRofeh Hospital where the detainee is currently being held.
____Al-Shakhra said Abu Diak is suffering from renal and pulmonary failure, adding that doctors expect his body to respond to treatment in a week, but any lack of response would result in further deterioration of his health.
More . . .

Taybeh Golden Hotel is in the center of Taybeh Village, roughly 25 minutes away from Ramallah. Within close distance to the hotel is the St. George Byzantine Church, the Taybeh Brewing Company, Old City of Taybeh and the Taybeh Winery. (Photo: Taybeh Golden Hotel)
Taybeh Golden Hotel in Taybeh Village, 25 minutes away from Ramallah. Within close distance to the hotel is the St. George Byzantine Church, the Taybeh Brewing Company, Old City of Taybeh and the Taybeh Winery. (Photo: Taybeh Golden Hotel)

❹ THIS WEEK IN PALESTINE
TAYBEH  GOLDEN  HOTEL  OPENS  ITS  DOORS  FOR  OKTOBERFEST
Sept. 2015
Maria Khoury
(Dr. Maria C. Khoury, author of Christina Goes to the Holy Land, has organized the annual Taybeh Oktoberfest since 2005.)
All of a sudden it seems like I have a house with eighty rooms. This is exactly what working at the new Taybeh Golden Hotel feels like to me since we are still at the setting up stages and taking reservations, especially for Taybeh Oktoberfest that will be back in Taybeh this September.
More . . .

❺ Opinion/Analysis
MONDOWEISS
WHAT’S  BEHIND  NETANYAHU’S  WAR  ON  STONE  THROWERS
Dan Cohen
Sept. 24, 2015
Last Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stood at the site in occupied East Jerusalem where a 64-year-old Israeli driver was injured after his car hit a pole and later died.
____“We are declaring war on those who throw stones and bottles and rioters,” he declared. [. . . . .]
____Now that thwarting the Iran deal is out of reach, Netanyahu’s political calculus demands a new threat – and stone throwers have replaced the nuclear duck.
More . . .
Background . . .

“DETERMINATION  II,”  FOUZI  EL ASMAR
Whip me
Fetch more whips
more executioners
By the thousands
Render my skin
to shoe soles
Rub salt into every wound
old wounds
new wounds
Search my mind
for every thread of a new image
to a new poem
Take away the pen and the pencil.
With my blood
I shall write
every day
a million songs.

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

THE NECESSARY PROTECTION AGAINST A BOY THROWING A STONE. The Israeli army is using live ammunition against unarmed Palestinian stone-throwers in the Occupied West Bank. (Photo: Middle East Monitor)
THE  NECESSARY  PROTECTION  AGAINST  A BOY  THROWING  A  STONE. The Israeli army is using live ammunition against unarmed Palestinian stone-throwers in the Occupied West Bank. (Photo: Middle East Monitor)

“. . . Light the fire so I can see your sister’s corpse. . .” (Samih al-Qasim)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
A photo of the killing shows an Israeli soldier aiming his gun at 18-year-old Hadeel al-Hashlamon. (Youth Against Settlements)
A photo of the killing shows an Israeli soldier aiming his gun at 18-year-old Hadeel al-Hashlamon. (Youth Against Settlements)

❶ HEBRON TEEN LAID TO REST AS WITNESS REFUTES ISRAELI ACCOUNT OF KILLING
❷ Israel imposes lockdown on East Jerusalem neighborhoods
❸ Palestine: Sports for Life (PS4L)
❹ Al-Aqsa Stormed by Settlers Wearing Priestly Garments
❺ The dark narrative of Israel’s Rhodesia fantasy
❻ Poetry by Samih Al-Qasim

(Please read “Purpose” above. Thank you.)

◊  ◊  ◊  ◊  ◊  ◊

❶ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
HEBRON  TEEN  LAID  TO  REST  AS  WITNESS  REFUTES  ISRAELI  ACCOUNT  OF  KILLING
Sept. 23, 2015
HEBRON (Ma’an) — Hundreds of mourners attended the funeral of 18-year-old Hadeel al-Hashlamon on Wednesday, a day after the teenager was shot dead by Israeli forces at a checkpoint in Hebron, as a key eyewitness refuted claims she had attempted to stab Israeli soldiers. [. . . .]
____The 18-year-old was shot at a checkpoint at the entrance of Hebron’s central al-Shuhada street, after allegedly attempting to stab an Israeli soldier, according to the Israeli army’s official account.
____No Israeli soldiers were injured during the incident, and Israeli authorities presented no evidence of the alleged stabbing attempt.
More . . .
Related (New York Times) . . .
Related . . .

❷ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
ISRAEL  IMPOSES  LOCKDOWN  ON  EAST  JERUSALEM  NEIGHBORHOODS
JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — Israeli authorities closed the main entrances to East Jerusalem neighborhoods with cement blocks on Wednesday, preventing Palestinians from preparing for the Eid al-Adha holiday, locals said.
____Locals told Ma’an that Israeli authorities closed the three main entrances of the Sur Bahir neighborhood, as well as three main entrances leading into the neighborhood of Jabal al-Mukabbir . . . . with many residents reporting they are unable to . . . prepare for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, which begins Wednesday evening. [. . . .]
____The closures come as Israeli authorities continued to impose restrictions on Palestinians attempting to enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound [. . . .]
____Sources said that 37 right-wing Israelis raided and toured the holy site Wednesday morning under the protection of armed Israeli police, adding that dozens of Palestinians were able to enter and pray in Aqsa by noon.
More . . . 

Palestine: Sports for Life (PS4L) is one of the first organizations to apply the sports-for-development concept in Palestine (PS4L photo)
Palestine: Sports for Life (PS4L) is one of the first organizations to apply the sports-for-development concept in Palestine (PS4L photo)

❸ THIS WEEK IN PALESTINE
PALESTINE:  SPORTS  FOR  LIFE  (PS4L)
Tamara Awartani
Sept. 2015
When we speak about sports, we realize that it means different things to different people. . . . another perspective on sports: Sports for Development.
____Palestine: Sports for Life (PS4L) is one of the first organizations to apply the sports-for-development concept in Palestine. PS4L has developed the capacity of its youth staff and empowered them to be able to lead classes and activities using sports as a tool to reach out to youth, children, and women in order to teach them life skills.
PS4L staff developed a curriculum and applied sports-for-development principles in the implementation of two week-long youth vocational guidance summer camps that took place in August in Al-Aroub and Fara’a refugee camps. . .
More. . . 

❹ INTERNATIONAL MIDDLE EAST MEDIA CENTER (IMEMC)
AL-AQSA  STORMED  BY  SETTLERS  WEARING  PRIESTLY  GARMENTS
Sept. 24, 2015
Protected by heavily-guarded police officers, dozens of extremist settlers wearing priestly garments forced their way into the mosque compound via al-Maghariba (Moroccan) Gate to mark the Jewish feast of Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement).
____According to WAFA correspondence, settlers reportedly attempted to perform Talmudic (Jewish) prayers, however their attempts were foiled by the Mosque guards.
____This came as Israeli police deployed large reinforcements across Jerusalem ahead of Jewish feast and shut if off from the West Bank, making the city a military barrack.
More . . .

❺ Opinion/Analysis
+972 MAGAZINE (BLOG)
THE  DARK  NARRATIVE  OF  ISRAEL’S  RHODESIA  FANTASY
Seth J. Frantzman
Sept. 24, 2015
The Rhodesia fantasy sees an Israel that can be controlled by a very small elite, what they refer to as a ‘villa in the jungle.’ At the heart of the delusion is an imagined community of ‘founders’ and an imagined majority status for what was always a minority.
More . . .

“THE  WILL  OF  A  MAN  DYING  IN  EXILE,”  BY  SAMIH  AL-QASIM
Light the fire so I can see in the mirror of the flames
The courtyard, the bridge
And the golden meadows.
Light the fires so I can see my tears
On the night of the massacre,
So I can see your sister’s corpse
Whose heart is a bird ripped by foreign tongues,
By foreign winds.
Light the fire so I can see your sister’s corpse,
So I can see jasmine
As a shroud,
The moon
As an incense burner
On the night of the massacre.
Light the fire so I can see myself dying.
My suffering is your only inheritance,
My suffering before the jasmine turns
Into a witness,
The moon
Into a witness.
Light the fires so I can see
Light the fi. . .

From Adonis, Mahmud Darwish, Samih al-Qasim. VICTIMS  OF  A  MAP:  A  BILINGUAL  ANTHOLOGY  OF  ARABIC  POETRY.  London: Saqi Books, 2008. Available from Amazon.
About Samih Al-qasim

Israeli authorities closed the main entrances to East Jerusalem neighborhoods with cement blocks on Wednesday (Ma’an News Agency photo)
Israeli authorities closed the main entrances to East Jerusalem neighborhoods with cement blocks on Wednesday (Ma’an News Agency photo)

“. . . under our skin A storm is being born. . .” (Mahmoud Darwish)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
File picture shows Aeham al-Ahmad, a former resident of Damascus' Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp, playing the piano in the street. (AFP/Rami Al-Sayed/File)
File picture shows Aeham al-Ahmad, a former resident of Damascus’ Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp, playing the piano in the street. (AFP/Rami Al-Sayed/File)

(Please read “Purpose” above. Thank you.)

❶ Palestinian pianist from Yarmouk joins migrant tide
❷ J’lem mayor warns Palestinians in holy site clashes: ‘if they use violence we will hunt them’
❸ Israeli forces level land in Gaza border area
❹ Opinion/Analysis: Using Palestinians as a human shield against BDS
❺ Opinion/Analysis: Israel’s high-stake game in Al-Aqsa and why Netanyahu may prevail
❻ Poetry by Mahmoud Darwish

◊  ◊  ◊  ◊  ◊  ◊

❶ AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE
HIS  PIANO  BURNED  BY  IS,  SYRIAN  [Palestinian From Yarmouk Refugee Camp]  MUSICIAN  JOINS  MIGRANT  TIDE
Sept. 20, 2015
Three years of siege, famine and bombing of his Damascus refugee camp didn’t kill celebrated musician Aeham al-Ahmad, but something died inside him the day jihadists burned his beloved piano in front of his eyes.
___It was then that Ahmad, whose music had brought consolation, even a bit of joy, to Yarmuk camp’s beleaguered residents, decided to join thousands of others and seek refuge in Europe.
___”They burned it in April, on my birthday. It was my most cherished possession,” Ahmad told AFP, which is following his odyssey online, step-by-step.
More . . .

❷ MONDOWEISS
J’LEM  MAYOR  WARNS  PALESTINIANS  IN  HOLY  SITE  CLASHES:  ‘IF  THEY  USE  VIOLENCE  WE  WILL  HUNT  THEM’
Allison Deger
Sept. 19, 2015
On Friday afternoon prayers one Palestinian was shot by Israeli forces, and two Israeli police were injured in clashes across Jerusalem, amid a week of upheaval centering around al-Aqsa Mosque. In preparation for a call from Hamas for a “day of rage,” Israeli police deployed 5,000 forces around Jerusalem and limited access to the Muslim holy sites by age. By evening Israel’s parliament approved drafting army reservists to street patrols, a signal of continuing strife.
____“If they use violence we will hunt them and we will increase measures,” Jerusalem’s mayor Nir Barkat said yesterday. This followed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement that police would begin using live-fire for crowd control in Jerusalem, “to make sure terrorists will not gain what they want to gain.”
____“Their strategic aim is to prevent religious freedom—when I say religious freedom I mean even the right of Jews to visit quietly,” Barkat said.
More. . .

A Palestinian woman shows rubber bullets reportedly used by Israeli police outside the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, after clashes erupted on September 13, 2015. (AFP/Ahmad Gharabli)
A Palestinian woman shows rubber bullets reportedly used by Israeli police outside the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, after clashes erupted on September 13, 2015. (AFP/Ahmad Gharabli)

❸ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
ISRAELI  FORCES  LEVEL  LAND  IN  GAZA  BORDER  AREA
Sept. 21, 2015
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Israeli military vehicles crossed the border fence into the northern Gaza Strip on Monday and leveled private Palestinian land, witnesses said.
____Locals told Ma’an that four military bulldozers entered a border area near Jabalia in the besieged enclave and leveled agricultural land.
More . . .

❹ Opinion/Analysis
+972 BLOG
USING  PALESTINIANS  AS  A  HUMAN  SHIELD  AGAINST  BDS
Rami Younis
Sept. 20, 2015
In response to the Reykjavik City Council’s — since reversed — decision to boycott Israeli goods until the occupation is ended, Israeli politician Yair Lapid wrote an open letter to the Icelandic people titled ‘The Hypocrisy of Boycott.’ In his oped, Lapid argued that Israel should not be boycotted because doing so would harm its Arab citizens. One of those citizens responds.
More . . .

❺ Opinion/Analysis
MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
ISRAEL’S  HIGH-STAKE  GAME  IN  AL-AQSA  AND  WHY  NETANYAHU  MAY  PREVAIL
Ramzy Baroud
Sept. 21, 2015

Ramzy Baroud is an internationally-syndicated columnist, author and the founder of PalestineChronicle.com. His latest book is My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story.

The State of Israel was established on the ruins of Palestine, based on a series of objectives that were initialed by letters from the Hebrew alphabet, the consequences of which continue to guide Israeli strategies to this day. The current violence against Palestinian worshipers at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Occupied East Jerusalem is a logical extension of the same Zionist ambition. [. . . .]
The fate of Jerusalem and its holy sites cannot be understood separately from the fate of Palestine. And the daily struggle of Palestinian Muslims and Christians in that City is a representation of the struggle of Palestinians everywhere.
____As West Jerusalem was conquered under ‘Plan Dalet,’ East Jerusalem, like the rest of the Occupied Territories was, along with other Palestinian regions, the target of another plan: The ‘Allon Plan.’
More. . .

“MY  HOMELAND,”  BY  MAHMOUD  DARWISH
. . . . (Written from prison after the June, 1967, war)
My Homeland:
The chains have taught me
The fierceness of the eagle
And the tenderness of the optimist
I did not know
That under our skin
A storm is being born
And rivers are being wed.
They dimmed the light in my prison cell
But a radiant sun is beaming in my heart
They wrote my number on the wall
And a plain of wheat has grown
I carved your bloody picture with my teeth
And wrote a song for the dying night
I stabbed my defeat in the flesh of the dark
And stitched my fingers in the verse of light
While the conqueror stands on the roof of my home
He only conquered my cell
He only saw my glow
He only heard my chains
And if I am burnt on the cross of prayers
I shall become a saint―dressed in a uniform

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.
About Mahmoud Darwish

Israeli military vehicles crossed the border fence into the northern Gaza Strip on Monday and leveled private Palestinian land, witnesses said. (Ma’an Images file photo)
Israeli military vehicles crossed the border fence into the northern Gaza Strip on Monday and leveled private Palestinian land, witnesses said. (Ma’an Images file photo)

“. . . Is it from your hills that the angels sang to the shepherds . . .” (Jabra Ibrahim Jabra)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
Palestinian women shout slogans as Israeli police forces block Palestinians at an entrance of the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem’s old city, after Israeli police and authorities limited access to one of Islam’s holiest sites, July 26, 2015, following clashes inside the compound. (Photo: Oren Ziv / Activestills.org)
Palestinian women shout slogans as Israeli police forces block Palestinians at an entrance of the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem’s old city, after Israeli police and authorities limited access to one of Islam’s holiest sites, July 26, 2015, following clashes inside the compound. (Photo: Oren Ziv / Activestills.org)

(Please read “Purpose” above. Thank you.)

❶ PLO: Israel turning ‘question of Palestine into a religious war’
❷ Newspaper Review: Yeshiva Calls on Settlers to Enter al-Aqsa Site
❸ Israeli Police Demolish Stores Northwest of Jerusalem
❹ Review: Book of the Month, Four Cities, By Hala Alyan
❺ Opinion/Analysis: Why do they throw stones?
❻ Poetry by Jabra Ibrahim Jabra

◊  ◊  ◊  ◊  ◊  ◊

❶ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
PLO:  ISRAEL  TURNING  ‘QUESTION  OF  PALESTINE  INTO  A  RELIGIOUS  WAR’
Sept. 20, 2015
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) – PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat released a statement on Sunday accusing the Israeli government of “enthusiastically trying to turn the question of Palestine into a religious war,” through its actions at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
____Erekat said in a statement that the PLO does not, and will not accept a religious narrative concerning the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis.
____Erekat also added that the increase in Israeli attacks against “the sanctity of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound” will not be accepted, and called on the international community “to assume its responsibility to protect the Palestinian people and their holy sites . . .
More . . .
Related . . .

❷ PALESTINE NEWS & INFORMATION AGENCY – WAFA
NEWSPAPER  REVIEW:  YESHIVA  CALLS  ON  SETTLERS  TO  ENTER  AL-AQSA  SITE
RAMALLAH, September 20, 2015 (WAFA) – The three Palestinian Arabic dailies Sunday focused on calls made by a yeshiva school for Jewish settlers to take part in a large-scale entry to al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, a move that will ultimately spark intense clashes between the Israeli police, settlers and Palestinian worshipers. [. . . .]
____On a different subject, al-Ayyam said the Israeli government is set to approve on Sunday an act that allows the Israeli police to use live ammunition against “stone-throwers” in Jerusalem.
More . . .

❸ PALESTINE NEWS & INFORMATION AGENCY – WAFA
ISRAELI  POLICE  DEMOLISH  STORES  NORTHWEST  OF  JERUSALEM
Sept. 20, 2015
JERUSALEM, (WAFA) – Israeli police Sunday demolished five Palestinian-owned stores in the town of Hezma, just northeast of Jerusalem, according to local sources.
____An Israeli army force broke into the town in the morning and demolished five tinplate-surfaced stores, including a stone-cutting workshop, under the pretext of construction without a permit. [. . . .]
____Although Palestinians in East Jerusalem are living in a part of the internationally recognized Palestinian Territory that has been under Israeli military occupation since 1967, they are denied citizenship and classified only as ‘residents’ whose permits can be revoked if they move away from the city.
More . . .
Other IOF action . . .

❹ REVIEW: THIS WEEK IN PALESTINE
BOOK  OF  THE  MONTH:  FOUR CITIES,  BY  HALA  ALYAN
Reviewed by the TWIP Team
September, 2015
Black Lawrence Press, September 2015
Four Cities by Hala Alyan is a journey, on a heavy carpet, from New York to Damascus. Hala, who invokes elves and burning tires, is searching for home and love in places that everyone is trying to escape.
____In her second manuscript, which will be published this month by Black Lawrence Press, an independent publisher out of the United States, Hala brings to light Arabic words weaved with English in a way that only an Arab-American can.
More . . .

DANGEROUS TERRORISTS Palestinian youths throw stones towards Israeli border police during clashes at a checkpoint between the Shuafat refugee camp and Jerusalem November 7, 2014. REUTERS/Finbarr O’Reilly.
DANGEROUS TERRORISTS
Palestinian youths throw stones towards Israeli border police during clashes at a checkpoint between the Shuafat refugee camp and Jerusalem November 7, 2014. REUTERS/Finbarr O’Reilly.

❺ Opinion/Analysis
+972 MAGAZINE
WHY  DO  THEY  THROW  STONES?
Samah Salaime
Sept. 18, 2015
This article was first published in Hebrew on Local Call. Read it here.
Only in Israel can one speak about an intifada without mentioning the occupation. Only here can one change the IDF’s open-fire regulations without addressing what soldiers are doing on Palestinian land, with who sent them to walk around neighborhoods and cities, and for what purpose.
____Stone throwing has made headlines once again this week, and the entire establishment went into a craze over the question of “how do we deal with this?” Facebook was filled with creative answers, such as punishing judges who refrain from sentencing teenager stone-throwers to life. Any judge who shows mercy will not be promoted. The only thing lacking from this proposal was how to forcefully deal with these kinds of judges who also happen to be Arab. I suggest establishing a new investigative committee to look into how on earth these judges were appointed in the first place.
More . . .

“IN  THE  DESERTS  OF  EXILE,”  BY  JABRA  IBRAHIM  JABRA
Spring after spring, in the deserts of exile,
What are we doing with our love,
When our eyes are full of frost and dust?

Our Palestine, green land of ours;
Its flowers as if embroidered of women’s gowns;
March adorns its hills
With the jewel-like peony and narcissus;
April bursts open in its plains
With flowers and bride-like blossoms;
May is our rustic song
Which we sing at noon, in the blue shadows,
Among the olive trees in our valleys,
And in the ripeness of the fields we wait for the promise of July
And the joyous dance amidst the harvest.

O land of ours where our childhood passed
Like dreams in the shade of the orange grove,
Among the almond trees in the valleys―
Remember us now wandering
Among the thorns of the desert,
Wandering in rocky mountains;
Remember us now
In the tumult of cities beyond deserts and seas;
Remember us with our eyes full of dust
That never clears in our ceaseless wandering.
They crushed the flowers on the hills around us,
Destroyed the houses over our heads,
Scattered our torn remains
Then unfolded the desert before us,
With valleys writhing in hunger
And blue shadows
Scattered into red thorns
Bent over corpses left as prey for falcon and crow.

Is it from your hills that the angels sang to the shepherds
Of peace on earth and goodwill among men?
Only death laughed when it saw
Among the entrails of beasts
The ribs of men,
And through the guffaw of bullets
It went dancing a joyous dance
On the heads of weeping women.
Our land is an emerald,
But in the deserts of exile,
Spring after spring,
Only the dust hisses in our face.
What then, what are we doing with our love,
When our eyes and our mouth are full of frost and dust?

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.
About Jabra Ibrahim Jabra

The home of the renowned Arab novelist, poet, painter and translator Jabra Ibrahim Jabra was destroyed in an April 4 car bomb attack that also killed 17 people in Baghdad. Photo: Holly Pickett for The New York Times. MAY 21, 2010
The home of the renowned Arab novelist, poet, painter and translator Jabra Ibrahim Jabra was destroyed in an April 4 car bomb attack that also killed 17 people in Baghdad. Photo: Holly Pickett for The New York Times. MAY 21, 2010

“. . . whose planes bombard children’s dreams who breaks rainbows. . .” (Samih Al-Qasim)

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The main components of Ibrahim Jawabrah’s artistic works are the tiny wooden or metal cars made of wires and wheels, the patterns of the traditional Palestinian dress and the fabrics used in Palestinian villages. (Photo, This Week in Palestine)
The main components of Ibrahim Jawabrah’s artistic works are the tiny wooden or metal cars made of wires and wheels, the patterns of the traditional Palestinian dress and the fabrics used in Palestinian villages. (Photo, This Week in Palestine)

(Please read “Purpose” above. Thank you.)

❶ Netanyahu Asks Attorney General to Authorize Sniper Fire against Stone-throwers
❷ Artist of the Month: Ibrahim Jawabrah: Searching through Childhood
❸ Rights group: More than 1,991 Palestinian children killed since 2000
❹ The Fires of Religious War Rage over Al-Aqsa
❺ Opinion/Analysis: Gazan refugees denied rights in Jordan for over 45 years
❻ Poetry by Samih Al-Qasim

◊  ◊  ◊  ◊  ◊  ◊

❶ PALESTINE NEWS NETWORK
ISRAEL  AUTHORIZES  SNIPERS  FIRE  AGAINST  ROCK-THROWERS
Sept. 16, 2015
Israel has approved the use of sniper rifles against stone throwers in Jerusalem, Channel 10 reports on Thursday morning. Netanyahu asked the Attorney General to authorize sniper to target the stone throwers as part of his declared “war” on stone throwers in Jerusalem.
More . . .
Related . . .
Related . . . 

❷ THIS WEEK IN PALESTINE
ARTIST  OF  THE  MONTH:  IBRAHIM  JAWABRAH:  SEARCHING  THROUGH  CHILDHOOD
Mohammad Al Amiri
September, 2015
Born in 1985, Ibrahim Jawabrah is still searching for the child in himself. As he was following his passion for art, he explored the depth of his inner self and found himself in the area of his childhood, which gave his art a special trait and flavor. He discovered a new language with which to argue with himself and clarify many issues about art that would fulfill his vision and respond to his passion and emotions.
____Jawabrah chose the path to heal his pain. His mission in art is purely humanitarian.
More . . .

❸ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
RIGHTS  GROUP:  MORE  THAN  1,991  PALESTINIAN  CHILDREN  KILLED  SINCE  2000
Sept. 17, 2015
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — More than 1,991 Palestinian children have been killed by Israeli forces and extremists since 2000, according to figures released by an international rights group Thursday.
____Ongoing settlement building in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank are wedging Palestinian children and their families against “expanding and often violent Israeli settler communities,” Defense for Children International- Palestine (DCIP) research reported.
____Such expansion is increasingly placing Palestinian children in a “hyper-militarized environment,” where they are facing higher frequencies of disproportionate violence . . .
More . . .

Palestinian children look at the rubble of a destroyed mosque following an Israeli military strike in the Nusseirat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on July 12, 2014. (AFP/Thomas Coex, File)
Palestinian children look at the rubble of a destroyed mosque following an Israeli military strike in the Nusseirat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on July 12, 2014. (AFP/Thomas Coex, File)

❹ PALESTINE CHRONICLE
THE  FIRES  OF  RELIGIOUS  WAR  RAGE  OVER  AL-AQSA
Dr. Yousef Rezqa
Sep 16 2015
Israeli media sources have recently published the following statement: “Netanyahu’s government . . . decision to divide Al-Aqsa mosque in two phases: the first phase is to limit the presence of Palestinians by targeting and arresting religious scholars and students. . . The second phase will include the enforcement of daily hours where Jews can enter Al-Aqsa mosque. Palestinians will be forbidden to enter Al-Aqsa mosque during this time. The same regulations have been previously applied to the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron.”
____If we are to abide by the Netanyahu government’s policy, we will find ourselves in the midst of a new fait accompli that deprives Muslims of their basic right to worship in Al-Aqsa Mosque at any hour of the day.
More . . .
Related . . .

❺ Opinion/Analysis
MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
GAZAN  REFUGEES  DENIED  RIGHTS  IN  JORDAN  FOR  OVER  45  YEARS
Aaron Magid
(Aaron Magid is an Amman-based journalist. He graduated from Harvard University with a masters in Middle Eastern studies.)
Sept. 17, 2015
JERASH REFUGEE CAMP, Jordan (Ma’an) — Born in Jordan, 27-year-old Muhammad’s life hardly resembles a typical Jordanian’s. Lacking any political or civil rights . . . because his parents fled to Jordan from Gaza following the 1967 War.
____“Compared to other Jordanian citizens, I am nothing,” explained Muhammad . . . Approximately 140,000 Palestinian refugees from Gaza live in a similar limbo as Muhammad in Jordan: denied most rights and often forced into a life of harsh poverty.
____Nearly 2.1 million Palestinian refugees live in Jordan. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, 350,000 Palestinians fled to Jordan . . . The Nationality Law of 1954 provided Palestinian residents of the West Bank with full Jordanian citizenship after King Abdullah I annexed the West Bank on April 24, 1950. However, when the new wave of Palestinian refugees arrived in Jordan escaping from Gaza in the 1967 War, Amman treated them differently than their West Bank countrymen, refusing to provide them with Jordanian nationality or civil rights.
More . . .

EXCERPTED  FROM  “THE  CHILDREN  OF  RAFAH,”  BY  SAMI  AL-QASIM  (1970)
To him who digs his path
in the wounds of millions
whose tanks crush the garden’s roses
To him who breaks at night the houses’ windows
who burns a field and a museum
and sings to the fire
who rips the hair of sad women
and bombs grape fields
who executes the nightingale of feasts in the square
whose planes bombard children’s dreams who breaks rainbows
The children of deep rooted ancestors tonight declare
the children of Rafah tonight declare:
We did not knit blankets from hair braids
we did not spit on the face of murdered women
after plucking the golden teeth
Why do take the candy
and give us bombs?
why make Arab children orphans?
And thanks?

Sadness turned us into men
we must fight

[. . . .]

At the corner of the street
at the outskirts of town
the children of long histories
were gathering books, wood, and orphanage
frames and tent pegs
to build a barricade,
to block the path of darkness
and disturb the troops of hate
until peace washes their eyes
from the dust and hate of war!
And with books, wood, and orphanage
frames and tent pegs
his idol gave the barricade a nervous silence
and his hand was ready with the ink pot―
And the day the security doors of the conquerors closed
he was among the arrested
the son of the man whose residence was unknown

Footnote:
His age nine years―

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.
About Samih Al-Qasim

Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian during clashes between protesters and police after authorities limited access for Muslim worshipers to the al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem on July 26, 2015. (AFP/Ahmad Gharabli)
Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian during clashes between protesters and police after authorities limited access for Muslim worshipers to the al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem on July 26, 2015. (AFP/Ahmad Gharabli)