❶ Palestinian family buries second child in 6 weeks
❷ Israeli military raids medical center in Bethlehem
❸ Commentary: Israel wants to treat Sweden as a banana republic
❹ Summary of current situation: THE  JERUSALEM  INTIFADA
❺ Opinion/Analysis: THE  LAST  COLONY
❻ Poetry by Majid Abu Ghoush
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
PALESTINIAN  FAMILY  BURIES  SECOND  CHILD  IN  6  WEEKS
Dec. 12, 2015
HEBRON (Ma’an) — A Palestinian family in Hebron on Friday buried its second child to be killed by Israeli forces in the last two months, locals told Ma’an.
___Uday Irsheid, 24, was shot in the chest by Israeli military forces earlier Friday during clashes and later died from his injuries.
[. . . . ]
___Uday’s funeral came just over a month after his family buried his 17-year-old sister, Dania.
___Dania was shot and killed by Israeli forces on Oct. 25 after police officers allegedly saw “a knife in her hand.”
More . . .
Related . . . ISRAEL  COURT  SAYS  BOOK  ON  KILLING  NON-JEWS  NOT  INCITEMENT
❷ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
ISRAELI  MILITARY  RAIDS  MEDICAL  CENTER  IN  BETHLEHEM
Dec. 12, 2015
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israeli military forces ransacked several homes and a medical center in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem before dawn on Saturday, locals said.
___Locals told Ma’an that soldiers broke into al-Sadaq Medical Clinic in the al-Madbasa neighborhood in the center of Bethlehem, removing the clinic’s main door and confiscating equipment.
___The medical clinic is a part of al-Ihsan Charitable Association, locals added.
More . . .
Related . . . 74  PALESTINIANS  INJURED  DURING  BETHLEHEM  CLASHES
Related . . . ONE  KILLED,  DOZENS  INJURED  BY  ISRAELI  GUNFIRE  EAST  OF  GAZA

❸ Commentary
THE MIDDLE EAST MONITOR (MEMO)
ISRAEL  WANTS  TO  TREAT  SWEDEN  AS  A  BANANA  REPUBLIC
Dr. Daud Abdullah
Dec. 9, 2015
Diplomatic spats between Sweden and Israel have become a regular occurrence. Ever since the Scandinavian country recognised the state of Palestine in October 2014 relations between Stockholm and Tel Aviv have gone from bad to worse. At the heart of this stand-off is Sweden’s determination to pursue an independent foreign policy without diktats from any quarters, including Israel.
___The latest episode in this long-running row has come in the wake of a remark made by Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström . . . Responding to an allegation that her government favours the Palestinians, Wallström said that while Israel always has the right to defend itself, its response cannot be “extrajudicial executions” or become “disproportionate”.
More . . . 
Related . . . SWEDEN  PLEDGES  $22M  TO  IMPROVE  INFRASTRUCTURE  IN  PALESTINE
❹ Summary of current situation
THE MIDDLE EAST MONITOR (MEMO)
THE  JERUSALEM  INTIFADA
Dec. 11, 2015
Since 14 September, 1,734 Palestinians have been arrested by Israel in the Occupied Territories and within Israel. This has come after Members of the Knesset and Jewish settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound under heavy army and police cover . . .
___Analysts . . . believe labels such as “Third Intifada” are unimportant and take away from the situation on the ground where the appropriation of land, colonialism and apartheid are widely practiced leaving Palestinians with no rights or security.
More . . .
❺ Opinion/Analysis
MONDOWEISS
THE  LAST  COLONY
Melissa Levin
Dec. 11, 2015
November 1980. The room could be forgiven for its distinctly seventies style. It was hardly into the following decade, and design could still take a deep breath before moving on. It was also small-town South Africa—not known for its capacity to shift with the times.
[. . . . ]
Growing up, I believed that Zionism was the articulation of our deepest longing to return to the land of our ancestors. I thought that this was our only opportunity for Jewish survival. This idea was bound to the myth that Israel was an empty land, waiting for our return. The accompanying yet contradictory myth was that those who were there wanted our death.
[. . . . ]
The argument that the existence of Jews everywhere is so intimately tied to the existence of Israel as a Jewish state has cemented a support base the world over. This is what Zionism as a nationalist project cultivated that other settler-colonialisms never had—a “diaspora.” The very idea of a diaspora as a given rather than a construct of political necessity has fueled the ferocity with which Israel is shielded from criticism.
More . . .

“CRYING  ON  GAZA’S  CHEST,”  BY  MAJID  ABU  GHOUSH

Salt sea water
and your tears

Yes, madam
this is my blood
on your clothes

It was my brother
who lifted me
on to the cross
my brother
who pushed me
into the well

My brother
who set fire
to the vineyard
and my heart

My brother
who opened fire
on the evensong

My brother
who opened fire
on the moon’s face

My brother
who pulled the trigger
in the name of the Lord
splashing my blood
on the sand
――Translated by Ellen McAteer

Majid Abu Ghoush (b. Amwas) is a prolific poet, a member of the Secretariat of the General Union of Palestinian Writers, and a founding member of Poets Without Borders Palestine. Abu Ghoush reading one of his own poems.
From  A  BIRD  IS  NOT  A  STONE:  AN  ANTHOLOGY  OF  CONTEMPORARY  PALESTINIAN  POETRY  (Glasgow: Freight Books, 2014) –available From Amazon.com.