“. . . how can we assign to oblivion years of hatred. . .” (Samih Al-Qasim)

A Palestinian takes a burnt carpet out of Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem's Old City during clashes at the compound on September 13, 2015. (Photo: AFP/Ahmad Gharabli)
A Palestinian takes a burnt carpet out of Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City during clashes at the compound on September 13, 2015. (Photo: AFP/Ahmad Gharabli)


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

❶ Israel has ‘taken over’ Aqsa compound, says official
❷ Attacks against Al-Aqsa Continue; Many Palestinians Kidnapped and Injured
❸ Army Kidnaps a Palestinian in Hebron, Searches Homes
❹ Business as usual for children arrested by the IDF
❺ Opinion/Analysis― If Gaza Becomes Uninhabitable, it Is Israel’s Responsibility
❻ Poetry by Samih Al-Qasim

◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊

MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
ISRAEL  HAS  ‘TAKEN  OVER’  AQSA  COMPOUND,  SAYS  OFFICIAL
Sept. 13, 2015
JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — The director of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, Sheikh Omar al-Kiswani, said Sunday that Israel had effectively taken over the holy site, after a day of violent clashes between Palestinian worshipers and Israeli police took place there.
____Kiswani told Ma’an that having brought the compound under occupation in 1967, “today, the (Israeli) occupation authorities have imposed their sovereignty over it by power of force.”
____He pointed to Israeli control over who enters and leaves, and their use of force against Palestinians that challenge them, including the assault of Islamic Endowment employees.
____The director made his comments after a day of violent clashes at the holy site, during which witnesses said Israeli police entered the AL-AQSA  MOSQUE  ITSELF,  ISLAM’S  THIRD-HOLIEST  SITE,  and caused damage.
More. . .
Related . . .

INTERNATIONAL MIDDLE EAST MEDIA CENTER (IMEMC)
ATTACKS  AGAINST  AL-AQSA  CONTINUE;  MANY  PALESTINIANS  KIDNAPPED  AND  INJURED
Sept. 14, 2015
Groups of Israeli extremists, accompanied by dozens of soldiers and police officers, continued their invasions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in occupied East Jerusalem, through the al-Magharba Gate, after the army forcibly removed most of the Palestinian worshipers, and assaulted dozens.
____The soldiers attacked dozens of Palestinians, including women, near the Chain Gate of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, while a young man, identified as Tamer Khalaf, 29, suffered various cuts and bruises after the soldiers repeatedly beat and struck him, and sprayed his face with pepper-spray before kidnapping him.
More . . .
Related . . .

INTERNATIONAL MIDDLE EAST MEDIA CENTER (IMEMC)
ARMY  KIDNAPS  A  PALESTINIAN  IN  HEBRON,  SEARCHES  HOMES
Monday September 14, 2015
Israeli soldiers invaded, on Monday morning, the town of Doura, south of the southern West Bank city of Hebron, searched several homes and kidnapped one Palestinians. Palestine TV reporter injured in Jerusalem.
____Media sources in Hebron said the soldiers broke into many homes in the town, and violently searched them, before kidnapping a university student, identified as Mohammad Walid ‘Amro, 19.
____In addition, soldiers installed roadblocks on the main entrances of Sa’ir, Halhoul and Yatta town, and several neighborhoods in Hebron city, before stopping and searching dozens of cars, and examined the ID cards of scores of residents.
More . . .
Related. . .

Israeli Soldiers Invade Doura, Wednesday Evening, April 30, 2014. (Photo: Al-Qassam)
Israeli Soldiers Invade Doura, Wednesday Evening, April 30, 2014. (Photo: Al-Qassam)

+972 MAGAZINE
BUSINESS  AS  USUAL  FOR  CHILDREN  ARRESTED  BY  THE  IDF
Gerard Horton
Sept. 13, 2015
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced in March 2013 that it would study the conclusions of a UNICEF report on children held in military detention which found that ill-treatment appeared to be “widespread, systematic and institutionalized” and work to implement them through “ongoing cooperation” with the UN agency. Two-and-a-half years on and around 2,250 arrests later, there is new evidence as to how this “cooperation” is progressing.
To begin with, the number of children arrested at night appears to have jumped from 51 percent in 2013 to 65 percent today. . . the army breaking down doors in the middle of the night rather than parents bringing their children for questioning during the day.
More . . .

❺ Opinion/Analysis
THE PALESTINIAN INFORMATION CENTER
IF  GAZA  BECOMES  UNINHABITABLE,  IT  IS  ISRAEL’S  RESPONSIBILITY
Khalid Amayreh
The Gaza Strip, ravaged by devastating wars of aggression by Israel, could become uninhabitable for residents within just five years, a United Nations development agency warned this week. [. . . .]
____Israel, whether we like it or not, is the number-1 villain because it is still the occupying power in the Gaza Strip according to international law. The key to the rehabilitation of Gaza is decidedly in Israel’s hands. Hence, it is imperative that the international community exert a meaningful pressure, not just words, on Israel now in order to make the Israeli government responsive to the urgent needs of some 2 million Gazans who have chosen life over death and are opting to cling to their ancestral homeland rather than embark on a precarious journey to the shores of Europe.
More. . .

“THE  PROUD  HORSE,”  BY  SAMIH  AL-QASIM
I mounted your stubborn horse,
Heading to the bare deserts, searching for the ever-distant horizon;
Alone in this bustling world
Only you words were with me.
I crossed the deserts,
Without audacity,
Without fear.
How then, in God’s name, can I return, my heartless beloved?
For you are a spur and a whip for my horse,
A cloak that wraps me;
You are all my provisions
And the promise of the final meeting.
****
― “There is Paris.”
― “There is Beirut.”
― “There is Moscow.”
****
And I spur the neck of your proud horse,
And despite my hunger and thirst,
I urge it to run to you, my heartless beloved.
****
My Lord and Master,
You who make our thorns Jasmine,
I vow that I will never sell my wounds,
No matter how the daggers bargain;
And that our sister
Will not stay forever in bondage.
****
― “There is Amman.”
― “There is Rome.”
― “There is Baghdad.”
****
How then, in God’s name, can I ever escape from my roots and origins?
And how can we assign to oblivion years of hatred?
Our rage will never subside
So long as the heaven is within sight.
Our wounded head will never heal
Without your merciful bandages, melody of our words,
Visions of things to be,
Our plundered history,
Our beloved murderer,
Our heartless loving country,
The valiant knight of sorrow
Will serve your proud horse unto death.

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 Samih Al-Qasim

Gaza has received only a quarter of the funds pledged by the international community for its reconstruction following last year’s 50-day war between Israel and Hamas. (Photograph: Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images)
Gaza has received only a quarter of the funds pledged by the international community for its reconstruction following last year’s 50-day war between Israel and Hamas. (Photograph: Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images)

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