❶ Palestinian injured as settlers open fire south of Bethlehem
❷ Israeli vandals torch olive trees, damage 200 vehicles in Nablus
❸ Ashrawi: “Netanyahu’s Speech, a Smokescreen, Cloud Concealing Lies and Manipulation”
❹ Jerusalem’s Palestinian Identity and Intangible Heritage
❺ Opinion/Analysis: In Jerusalem, “Religious War” Claims Cloak Old-Fashioned Colonialism
❻ Poetry by Mahmoud Darwish
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❶ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
PALESTINIAN  INJURED  AS  SETTLERS  OPEN  FIRE  SOUTH  OF  BETHLEHEM
Oct. 2, 2015
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — A Palestinian man was injured on Friday as Jewish settlers opened fire at a major crossroads in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc south of Bethlehem, Palestinian medics said.
____Walid Khalid Qawwar, 35, from Aida refugee camp was moderately injured after being hit by shrapnel when settlers opened fire in the area.
____Dozens of settlers had gathered at the intersection near a cluster of illegal Israeli settlements south of Bethlehem, witnesses said.
____An Israeli army spokesperson said she was looking into the incident.
More . . .
Background . . . HUNDREDS  OF  ISRAELI  FORCES  SEARCH  NABLUS  AREA  AFTER  SETTLER  SHOOTING.
Oct. 2, 2015

❷ THE PALESTINIAN INFORMATION CENTER
ISRAELI  VANDALS  TORCH  OLIVE  TREES,  DAMAGE  200  VEHICLES  IN  NABLUS
Oct. 2, 2015
NABLUS, (PIC)– Israeli settlers intensified Friday their attacks and violations against Palestinian citizens and properties in the northern West Bank city of Nablus in the wake of yesterday’s shooting attack in which an Israeli officer and his wife were shot dead.
___A group of settlers torched on Friday morning Palestinian-owned olive trees near Burin town south of the city, eyewitnesses affirmed.
___In a similar attack, Israeli vandals stoned the Palestinian vehicles passing near al-Laban village located between Nablus and Ramallah.
More . . . 

❸ INTERNATIONAL MIDDLE EAST MEDIA CENTER (IMEMC)
ASHRAWI:  “NETANYAHU’S  SPEECH,  A  SMOKESCREEN,  CLOUD  CONCEALING  LIES  AND  MANIPULATION”
Oct. 2, 2015
Member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, stated Friday that the UN speech of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is deceptive, manipulative, and based on lies.
____In a press release, Dr. Ashrawi said Netanyahu’s attempts to present Israel as the victim, and casting the blame solely on the Palestinians, only shows his bankrupt social, moral, and legal policies.
More . . .

❹ THIS WEEK IN PALESTINE
JERUSALEM’S  PALESTINIAN  IDENTITY  AND  INTANGIBLE  HERITAGE
Ali Qleibo
Oct. 2015
(Dr. Ali Qleibo is an anthropologist, author, and artist. A specialist in the social history of Jerusalem and Palestinian peasant culture, he lectures at Al-Quds University.)
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Throughout time Al-Quds al-Sharif [Arabic for Jerusalem] has stood out as the Holy City. The stones of Jerusalem’s edifices are weighed down with religious symbolism. From any rooftop, when I turn my head around, I feel submerged by Christian and Muslim references that shape our identity.
____To Palestinians, the Jerusalemite is enigmatic, projecting an image that is inconsistent with his/her feelings. Cosmopolitan and at ease in the world at large, we nevertheless remain staunch conservatives at heart.
More . . .

❺ Opinion/Analysis:
JADALIYYA, THE ARAB STUDIES INSTITUTE
IN  JERUSALEM,  “RELIGIOUS  WAR”  CLAIMS  CLOAK  OLD-FASHIONED  COLONIALISM
by Nur Arafeh
Sep 23 2015
The escalating clashes between Israeli settlers and Jerusalemite Palestinians are the harbingers of a major eruption with incalculable consequences. Immediately billed as a “religious war” by the media and Israeli right wingers, they are in fact the outcome of longstanding Israeli plans to Judaize the city and empty it of its Palestinian inhabitants. Al-Shabaka Policy Member Nur Arafeh analyzes the major changes that Israel has illegally imposed on Jerusalem and addresses the Palestine Liberation Organization/Palestinian Authority’s effective abandonment of the population to fend for itself. She concludes with policy recommendations to the PLO/PA, Palestinian academics and analysts, and the international solidarity movement.
More . . .

“VICTIM  NO.  18,”  BY  MAHMOUD  DARWISH
Once the olive grove was green.
It was, and the sky
A grove of blue. It was my love.
What changed that evening?

At the bend in the track they stopped the lorry of workers.
So calm they were.
They turned us round towards the east. So calm they were.

Once my heart was a blue bird, O nest of my beloved.
The handkerchiefs I had of yours were all white. They were, my love.
What stained them that evening?
I do not understand at all, my love.

At the bend in the track they stopped the lorry of workers.
So calm they were.
They turned us round towards the east. So calm they were.

From me you’ll have evening,
Yours the shade and yours the light,
A wedding-ring and all you want,
And an orchard of trees, of olive and fig.
And as on every night I’ll come to you.
In the dream I’ll enter by the window and throw you jasmine.
Blame me not if I’m a little late:
They stopped me.
The olive grove was always green.
It was, my love.
Fifty victims
Turned it at sunset into
A crimson pond, Fifty victims.
Beloved, do not blame me.
They killed me. They killed me.
They killed me.

(Fifty Arab villagers, including many children and women, were stopped and machine gunned by Israeli soldiers at Kafr Qassem on October 29, 1956. More . . . )

Darwish, Mahmoud. THE  MUSIC  OF  HUMAN  FLESH. Trans. Denys Johnson-Davies. London: Heinemann Educational Books, 1980. Web. http://poetsfrompalestine.blogspot.com/2010/01/victim-number-18.html