❷ Israeli forces detain 18 across West Bank, seize money, weapons
❸ Qatar launches initiative to ease power crisis in Gaza
❹ Israel to Approve Construction of 436 Settler Units in Jerusalem
❺ Opinion/Analysis: On Zionism and Racism: Time to Rekindle UN Spark
❻ Poetry by Fouzi El-Asmar
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❶ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
ISRAEL OUTLAWS ISLAMIC MOVEMENT’S NORTHERN BRANCH
Nov. 17, 2015
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israel’s security cabinet on Monday outlawed the Islamic Movement’s northern branch in Israel in what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said was a bid to end “dangerous incitement.”
___A statement from Netanyahu’s office said the declaration would allow Israel to imprison anyone who acts on the movement’s behalf and also to seize any property belonging to the organization.
___Within hours, Israeli forces had detained at least one senior member of the movement and stormed offices of news organizations affiliated to it in the northern Israeli town of Umm Fahm.
___The Islamic Movement’s northern branch, led by Sheikh Raed Salah, has been a vocal critic of Israeli activity at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem — the third holiest site in Islam.
More . . .
Related . . . HAMAS: BANNING THE ISLAMIC MOVEMENT IS AN ISRAELI RACIST MEASURE
❷ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
ISRAELI FORCES DETAIN 18 ACROSS WEST BANK, SEIZE MONEY, WEAPONS
Nov. 17, 2015
HEBRON (Ma’an) — Israeli forces detained at least 18 Palestinians and confiscated money and weapons in multiple raids across the occupied West Bank overnight Monday, Palestinian and Israeli sources said.
___Hani Rawajba, a resident of Rujeib village in Nablus district, told Ma’an that Israeli forces stormed his home at around 1 a.m. and detained his son, Muhammad, 18, and seized three weapons, two gold rings, and 8,000 shekels ($2,042).
___Israeli soldiers also reportedly raided the home of a local journalist in Rujeib, Ameed Dwikat, and searched his home searching for weapons, but left after they did not find anything.
More . . .
Related . . .
Related . . . UN SUBMISSION: UNLAWFUL TRANSFER OF PROTECTED PERSONS
❸ AL-MONITOR: THE PULSE OF THE MIDDLE EAST
QATAR LAUNCHES INITIATIVE TO EASE POWER CRISIS IN GAZA
Adnan Abu Amer
Nov. 16, 2015
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been suffering from electricity outages since June 28, 2006, when Israel shelled the only electrical power plant in Gaza, in retaliation of the abduction of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit by Hamas.
[ . . . . . ]
During a press conference in Gaza on Sept. 10, Mohammed al-Emadi, Qatari ambassador to Gaza and chairman of the National Committee for the Reconstruction of Gaza, said that the committee discussed with Israel the supply of natural gas to Gaza; Israelis expressed their initial consent to this proposal. He added that the Quartet has appointed a special consultant for the project of building a gas pipeline to the Gaza power plant.
More . . .
❹ PALESTINE NEWS & INFORMATION AGENCY – WAFA
ISRAEL TO APPROVE CONSTRUCTION OF 436 SETTLER UNITS IN JERUSALEM
Nov. 17, 2015
The Israeli government is planning to issue tenders for the construction of 436 new housing units in the Jewish settlement of Ramat Shlomo in Jerusalem, according to Israeli daily Jerusalem Post.
___It said the municipality also wants to advance plans for the construction of 1,000 new housing units in the said settlement.
___In November 9, Israel’s planning committee for construction in the West Bank approved the construction of about 2,200 new housing units in Ma’aleh Michmash settlement complex, east of Ramallah, in addition to a plan to erect two settlement outposts in the area.
___The Israeli daily Haaretz said the move was to preempt legal action by Palestinians and rights groups to evacuate the sites.
More . . .
❺ Opinion/Analysis
PALESTINE CHRONICLE
ON ZIONISM AND RACISM: TIME TO REKINDLE UN SPARK
Eric Walberg
Nov. 16 2015
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon recently held a commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the squashing of UN resolution 3379, equating Zionism with racism. It was passed in 1975 by a vote of 72 to 35 (with 32 abstentions). The festive event this year was attended by US Secretary of State John Kerry and head of the Israeli Labor Party and Zionist Union Isaac Herzog, son of Chaim Herzog, president of Israel from 1983 to 1993, and star of the 1975 UN session.
___The 1975 vote took place approximately one year after resolution 3237 granted the PLO “observer status” . . . .
___It was revoked in December 1991 by UN resolution 46/86. At the commemoration this year, Ban Ki-moon recalled Chaim Herzog’s words in 1975, “I appeal to the community of nations to always act to uphold the principles of the United Nations Charter to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbors.” Such nice platitudes coming from the Israeli ambassador—community, principles, tolerance, peace . . .
Nov 16 2015
More . . .
“TWENTY COMRADES,” BY FOUZI EL ASMAR
Beloved, you ask me
Of life in this prison, this cell
what of the chains
chafing my wrists
what of my food and drink
and the comrades of my cell?Beloved, let me tell you:
Our clouds are indeed heavy
But our being here
is a smile of spring,
The shock of thunder
in autumn, after draught.
We are not defeated
Like our jailers.Life in this prison, this cell
is a palm tree impregnated
at the dawn.
My chains are the round
echo of a muezzin,
Their clank is the ringing
of my people’s bells.Beloved, you as me
of the meaning of my food
Here beloved
we grow like the wild flowers.And what of
my comrades in this cell? You ask
They are the twenty candles
lighting the darkness of this cell
The twenty songs
shaking the walls of this cell
The twenty revolutions
that will eternalize this cell
And we, beloved
we shall not be stopped. (June, 1970)
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About Fouzi El-Asmar
Palestine InSight 