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

❶ Saudi king seeks ‘urgent’ UN action on Al-Aqsa
❷ Wrestling the Rocks of Palestine
❸ Israeli forces detain 6 in East Jerusalem, including 4 children
❹ Israel building settler only road on Palestinian land near Nablus
❺ Opinion/Analysis: How Israel legitimizes vigilante terror
❻ “My Liberty,” by Fadwa Tuqan

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❶ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
SAUDI  KING  SEEKS  ‘URGENT’  UN  ACTION  ON  AL-AQSA
Sept. 17, 2015
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Saudi King Salman has appealed to UN chief Ban Ki-moon and members of the Security Council for “urgent measures” after clashes at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, state media reported.
____Salman “expressed strong condemnation of the dangerous Israeli escalation” at the holy site where Palestinian protesters clashed with Israeli police for three straight days, the Saudi Press Agency reported. [. . . .]
____Salman added that the “attack on worshipers” violates the sanctity of religions “and contributes to feeding extremism and violence in the world.”
More. . . 
Background. . .

❷ THIS WEEK IN PALESTINE
WRESTLING  THE  ROCKS  OF  PALESTINE
Bisan Samamreh
September 2015
Take a minute to imagine feeling unstoppable and having the skills, incentive, and resilience to overcome all obstacles and accomplish anything. Imagine realizing what it would take to perform to the maximum of your . . . This is what I experience through rock climbing.
____When I first heard about rock climbing in Palestine, I was intrigued and frankly quite skeptical, as I could not understand how it was geographically feasible here. I have to admit that the occupation has managed to narrow my perception of space and restrict my sense of movement. I met Tim Bruns and Will Harris, professional climbers and founders of Wadi Climbing. . . . they were surprised by the lack of recreational activities in the area. This triggered the idea of creating a rock-climbing community, as a first step to building the first indoor climbing gym in Palestine.
More. . .

❸ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
ISRAELI  FORCES  DETAIN  6  IN  EAST  JERUSALEM,  INCLUDING  4  CHILDREN
Sept. 17, 2015
JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — Israeli forces detained four Palestinian children and two young men from different neighborhoods of occupied East Jerusalem, after ransacking their homes overnight Wednesday, a human rights lawyer and local sources told Ma’an.
____Addameer human rights lawyer, Muhammad Mahmoud, said Israeli forces detained Ramiz Ajlouni, 12, and Muatazz Said, 16, in the Old City of Jerusalem overnight on Wednesday, while locals sources said that Nabil Sidir, 13, was also detained from his home in the Old City. [. . . .]
____An Israeli police spokesperson told Ma’an that “suspects” arrested in East Jerusalem overnight Wednesday were “involved in riots and disturbances in different neighborhoods,” without adding further details.
More. . .

❹ THE MIDDLE EAST MONITOR
ISRAEL  BUILDING  SETTLER  ONLY  ROAD  ON  PALESTINIAN  LAND  NEAR  NABLUS
Sept. 16, 2015
The Israeli forces have bulldozed agricultural land owned by Palestinian farmers near the city of Nablus, north West Bank, to open new roads to connect Jewish outposts and settlements south of the city.
____Bashar Qaryouti, coordinator of Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements . . . told Al-Resalah news site that Israeli bulldozers have razed large areas of land west of the town of Qaryout near Nablus to build a road to connect the settlement of Eli with other settlements and outposts as part of a larger plan that aims at confiscating large areas of Palestinian land in Qaryout and the surrounding villages.
More. . .

❺ MONDOWEISS
HOW  ISRAEL  LEGITIMIZES  VIGILANTE  TERROR
Dan Cohen
Sept. 16, 2015
Immediately after the firebombing of the occupied West Bank village of Duma that killed eighteen-month-old Ali Dawabshe and later his parents, Israeli politicians competed to see who could be more extreme in their denunciations. The further right their ideology, the more brutal their promises were. . .
____“This is a terror attack. Israel deals harshly with terrorism, no matter who the perpetrators are,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. . .
____But as Sa’ad and Reham Dawabshe, the young parents of baby Ali, succumbed to their wounds, the politicians who had been so vociferous were largely silent. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a STATEMENT, reiterating that Israeli forces would apprehend the killers. [. . . .]
____In the most clear signal that the perpetrators will not be brought to justice, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon told a group of Likud activists that security forces know the identity of the killers but would not prosecute them in order to not reveal intelligence sources. [. . . .]
____Veteran Israeli journalist Akiva Eldar sees this as a tactic of colonialism.
More. . .

“MY LIBERTY,” BY FADWA TUQAN
My liberty―my liberty―my liberty,
a sound I repeat
with angry lips
under the exchange of fire
and flames
I run after it
despite my chains
and follow its tracks
despite the night
and struggle ardently
for my liberty
My liberty
My liberty

And the Holy River
and Bridge repeat:
my liberty
and the two banks reiterate:
my liberty
and the raging wind and thunder,
tornadoes and rain
echo the sound:
my liberty

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.
Fadwa Tuqan