“. . . I would ask if she’s angry . . .” (Rochelle Mass)

Palestinians stand near a burning barricade during clashes with Israeli security forces in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya, Oct. 4, 2015. (photo by REUTERS/Ammar Awad)
Palestinians stand near a burning barricade during clashes with Israeli security forces in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya, Oct. 4, 2015. (photo by REUTERS/Ammar Awad)

❶ 200 Israeli settlers attack Palestinian village with firebombs
❷ Israeli court refuses appeal, will go ahead with Hebron demolition
❸ Jerusalem’s intifada takes its toll
❹ Israeli soldiers Attack Jenin Secondary School with Tear Gas
❺ Opinion/Analysis: Palestinians Want 1967 Lands Under UN Protection
❻ Poetry by Rochelle Mass
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(Please read “Purpose” above. Thank you for “following.”)
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❶ MIDDLE EAST MONITOR (MEMO)
200  ISRAELI  SETTLERS  ATTACK  PALESTINIAN  VILLAGE  WITH  FIREBOMBS
Oct. 18, 2015
HEBRON ― More than 200 Israeli settlers attacked the Palestinian villages of Wad al-Haseen and Wad al-Nasara near the illegal Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba overnight in the eastern Hebron district of the occupied southern West Bank, locals and medics said.
____During the attack, Israeli settlers threw stones and firebombs at Palestinian homes and injured at least three people, two of which were minors, while Israeli forces later shot and injured one Palestinian with live fire.
____An Israeli army spokesperson said she did not have reports of any injuries with live fire.
More . . .
MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
ISRAELI  COURT  REFUSES  APPEAL,  WILL  GO  AHEAD  WITH  HEBRON  DEMOLITION
Oct. 18, 2015
HEBRON ― An Israeli court this week refused a family’s appeal to stop the demolition order on their home in the southern occupied West Bank district of Hebron, the family told Ma’an.
____After failing to establish an appeal, Israeli forces will go forward with the demolition order on the family home of Palestinian prisoner Maher Hamdi al-Hashlmoun, 31, the family said.
____In a phone call with the Mujhat al-Quds institution, a Palestinian prisoners advocacy group, al-Hashlmoun’s wife said that “refusing the appeal means that the Israeli excavators can demolish the house at any moment and without a prior warning.”
More . . .
AL-MONITOR (PALESTINE PULSE)
JERUSALEM’S  INTIFADA  TAKES  ITS  TOLL
Daoud Kuttab
Oct. 16, 2015
Despite the sense of pride Palestinians have been expressing as they break the fear barrier and stump one of the world’s most powerful armies, Jerusalem’s intifada is taking its toll on the Palestinians of the holy city.
____The trigger-happy Israeli soldiers, settlers and citizens encouraged by their government to carry weapons have created fear and terror among the 350,000 Palestinians who make East Jerusalem their home.
____A resident of the Old City expressed this fear. In a post on his Facebook page Oct. 12, Ahmad Buderi said that Palestinians in the Old City want international protection, especially from armed settlers. “Any mistake can easily lead to the end of your life using the cover of self-defense. All it takes is for the settler to say ‘mikhablim’ [Hebrew for terrorists], and you can easily be the target of bullets coming at you from all directions.”
More . . .
PALESTINE NEWS & INFORMATION AGENCY – WAFA
ISRAELI  SOLDIERS  ATTACK  JENIN  SECONDARY  SCHOOL  WITH  TEAR  GAS
Oct. 18, 2015
JENIN– Israeli forces Sunday fired tired gas canisters and stun grenades inside a boys’ secondary school in Jenin while students were still inside, while groups of settlers attempted to storm Yabod town to the west of Jenin.
____Witnesses informed WAFA that Israeli soldiers stationed adjacent to the separation wall, built illegally on land belonging to Palestinians, fired tear gas canisters and stun grenades inside al-Tayba Secondary School to the west of Jenin.
____Earlier Sunday, Dozens of university students suffocated as Israeli forces Sunday raided the campus of Palestine Technical University- Kadoorie to the west of Tulkarem city, while firing a hail of tear gas canisters toward students.
More . . .
❺ Opinion/Analysis
IMEMC-INTERNATIONAL MIDDLE EAST MEDIA CENTER
PALESTINIANS  WANT  1967  LANDS  UNDER  UN  PROTECTION
Samer B. Jaber
Oct. 11, 2015
We, a group of professional and trade union figures, intellectuals, and political activists, appeal to the Palestinian leadership within the Palestine Liberation Organization and outside of it, to call on the United Nation and the permanent members of the Security Council to put the Palestine territory occupied by Israel in 1967 under the international protection of the United Nations.
____This call is coming after two decades of negotiations between the leadership of the PLO and successive Israeli occupation governments. These negotiations have not been able to achieve the rights of the Palestinian people to return to the homes from which they were displaced and to self-determination. The goal of this initiative is to provide an exit strategy from the arrangement in which the balance of power is tipped entirely in favor of the occupying state, thereby giving it the opportunity to impose its policy of fait accompli.
More . . .

“FROM MY KITCHEN WINDOW,” BY ROCHELLE MASS
I often think there’s a woman on the hill
over there, who looks out her kitchen window
in my direction
as she prepares dinner for her family.

Perhaps that woman has watched our village grow
Perhaps
she’s seen it spread over the Gilboa
new homes built for young families
children playing in the yard.

I watch Jenin stretch so wide
I have to turn my head
each way
to see the full size of it.

Perhaps that woman is picking olives, as I am
soaking them in large bins then
slicing lemons, adding coarse salt
tossing in bay leaves, peppercorns and

sharp red peppers to get the right flavor. Perhaps
she helps her husband as I help mine
take their crop to the local press, return
with gallons of oil.

I watch evening stagger over Jenin as
I soap my dishes
see lights splash
over the city.

I wonder if that woman
is looking my way ―
I would ask if she’s angry
if she’s afraid.

From BEFORE  THERE  IS  NOWHERE  TO  STAND:  PALESTINE  ISRAEL  POETS  RESPOND  TO  THE  STRUGGLE. Ed. By Joan Dobbie and Grace Beeler. Sandpoint ID: Lost Horse Press, 2012. Available from Barnes&Noble.
ROCHELLE MASS, Canadian born, with her husband and two young daughters, moved to Israel in l973, lived on a kibbutz in the Jezreel Valley for almost 25 years, and now lives in a settlement crawling up the Gilboa Mountain, overlooking that valley. She is a translator and editor (Kibbutz Trends, bi-annual of cultural/political issues). She has published two poetry collections.
Blogger’s note: My reading of Mass’s poetry is that she is a dedicated Israeli. However, she does not advocate violence and has some real sense of the horror of the life she represents.

Jenin. (Photo: Palden Jenkins. paldywan.blogspot.co.uk.)
Jenin. (Photo: Palden Jenkins. paldywan.blogspot.co.uk.)

 

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