❶ 24 shot, injured by Israeli forces in clashes after funeral in Abu Dis
❷ Analysis: Terrorism as defined by Israel
❸ Israeli police detain 5 after Israeli wedding incited murder
❹ Analysis: Palestinians and Israelis will pay a heavy price for unchecked Jewish settler terror
❺ Opinion/Analysis: Arab group in Israel paves new future for town’s next generation
❻ Poetry by Samah Sabawi
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❶ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
24  SHOT,  INJURED  BY  ISRAELI  FORCES  IN  CLASHES  AFTER  FUNERAL  IN  ABU  DIS
Dec. 30, 2015
JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — Clashes broke out late Tuesday in Abu Dis following a funeral held for a Palestinian killed earlier this month, whose body was held by Israeli authorities for 26 days.
___Locals told Ma’an that 24 Palestinians were shot and injured by rubber-coated steel bullets while 19 others suffered from severe tear gas inhalation when clashes erupted between locals and Israeli military forces.  More . . .
❷ THE MIDDLE EAST MONITOR (MEMO)
TERRORISM  AS  DEFINED  BY  ISRAEL
Dr Fayez Abu Shamaleh
Dec. 30, 2015
The burning to death of the Dawabsheh family in July created a conflict between the Israeli Shin Bet internal security agency and the Jewish settlers who sympathised with those who carried out the deadly arson attack. While the Shin Bet knows how dangerous the extremist Jewish groups are and the consequences of their heinous acts that reflect on the existence of the state itself, the rabbis and settler leaders continue to attack the agency. . . .
___ “See, the murder in Duma was just a means,” said [Education Minister Naftali] Bennett. “They want to bring down the house on our heads. That is their goal. It is antithetical to the substance of religious Zionism. They want to dismantle the State of Israel. They are terrorists . . . .  More . . .
❸ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
ISRAELI  POLICE  DETAIN  5  AFTER  ISRAELI  WEDDING  INCITED  MURDER
Dec. 30, 2015
[Blogger’s note: why would Israel prosecute when it refuses to prosecute Ali Dawabsha’s murderers?]
JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — Israeli police have arrested five Israelis involved in a Jerusalem wedding ceremony that incited violence towards Palestinians [in video footage that went viral], Israeli media reported Tuesday.
___The groom of the wedding . . . was arrested in addition to an Israeli soldier and two minors, Israeli daily Haaretz said.
___Israeli police also arrested renowned extremist settler Daniel Pinner from the illegal settlement of Tapuah, who was among a number of others seen dancing with a gun in video footage of the wedding . . . .
___At one point during the ceremony, a masked Israeli youth . . . stabs a photo of Ali Dawabsha, an 18-month-old Palestinian burned alive in an arson attack carried out by Jewish extremists over the summer. More . . .

❹ Analysis
THE MIDDLE EAST MONITOR (MEMO)
PALESTINIANS  AND  ISRAELIS  WILL  PAY  A  HEAVY  PRICE  FOR  UNCHECKED  JEWISH  SETTLER  TERROR
Professor Kamel Hawwash
Dec. 29, 2015
The recent Israeli wedding video in which revellers danced with knives and guns, and stabbed pictures of Palestinian baby Ali Dawabsheh, who was burnt to death by Jewish settlers, should trouble Israel’s supporters and society. . . .
___ However, there has been a worrying rise in settler violence, coordinated under the label of “price tag” attacks which target Palestinians on both sides of the Green (1949 Armistice) Line. They have included attacks on mosques and churches . . . .
___As settlers develop a terror infrastructure, safe in the knowledge that the state basically condones it, those Israelis who want to see a peaceful resolution to the conflict could soon face settler violence for advocating any evacuation of settlements under a peace agreement. . . . More . . . 
❺ Opinion/Analysis
+972 MAGAZINE
ARAB  GROUP  IN  ISRAEL  PAVES  NEW  FUTURE  FOR  TOWN’S  NEXT  GENERATION
Amjad Iraqi
Dec. 27, 2015
Three weeks ago, the building of the municipality of Tira, a Palestinian Arab town in the Muthalath (“Triangle”) area of Israel, was bustling with over two hundred people gathering in its auditorium.
___Five speakers took the stage and delivered captivating talks on five different topics, all of which were nothing short of inspiring. Fadi Matar, the 24-year-old founder of the organization behind the event, described the process of making it happen in a community not used to such initiatives. . . .
___The “Tira Talks” were organized by the Academiyu al-Tira (“the students/educated of Tira”), a local collective of Arab university and college students from the town. More . . .

“DEFYING  THE  UNIVERSE,”  BY  SAMAH  SABAWI
Dedicated to her husband Monir

Are your loved ones trapped behind the wall
Do they need the army’s permission
For their prayers to reach the sky
For their love to cross the ocean
And touch your thirsty heart
Are your loved ones trapped

Do you yearn to be in your family home
And when you call, do they always say
“we are fine, alhamdollelah”
Does it surprise you that they are whole
While you… are broken
Must they always worry about you
Urge you to have faith in your exile
Must they always pity you
For not breathing the air
Of your ancestors’ land
Must they always comfort you
Even when the bombs are falling
Do you ever wonder who is walled in
Is it you…or is it them
And when it finally dawns upon you
That their dignity sets them free
Do you feel ashamed of your liberty

About Samah Sabawi.
From: Valentine, Douglas. “Poetry, Palestine and the Language of Resistance Counter Punch.” Counter Punch. counterpunch.org. September 20, 2013. Web.