❶ Hundreds mourn teen killed in pipe bomb accident
❷ In the Jewish state, equality for Arabs is impossible by definition
❸ Sliman Mansour and the art of steadfastness
❹ ‘This is a totally political arrest, they will not thwart human rights!’ Guy Butavia tells the courthouse
❺ Opinion/Analysis: HOUSE  DEMOLITIONS  BACKFIRE  ON  THE  OCCUPATION
❻ Poetry by ‘Abd al-Raheem Mahmoud (1948)
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❶ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
HUNDREDS  MOURN  TEEN  KILLED  IN  PIPE  BOMB  ACCIDENT
Jan. 24, 2016
Hundreds of mourners joined on Sunday the funeral procession of Muhammad Nabil Halabiya, 17 and from the occupied East Jerusalem town of Abu Dis, who was killed Saturday night by a pipe bomb that exploded prematurely. . . .
___Muhammad had been holding the bomb near an Israeli military site in the area when it exploded in his hands. . . .
___ Muhammad left behind a mother and two brothers Ahmad, 15, and Mahmoud 13. Muhammad’s father Nabil died in 2002 only 40 days after his grandfather, Darwish was killed by Israeli soldiers.    More . . .
❷ +972 MAGAZINE
IN  THE  JEWISH  STATE,  EQUALITY  FOR  ARABS  IS  IMPOSSIBLE  BY  DEFINITION
Umar al-Ghubari (translated by Richard Flantz)
Jan. 24, 2016
This week the Israeli army radio, Galei Tzahal, conducted a survey . . . of Israeli Jews regarding full equal rights for Arab citizens of Israel. The results of the survey . . . revealed that the Jewish public in this country is almost equally divided on this issue. 45 percent oppose full equal rights for the state’s Arab citizens, 43 percent are in favor. . . .
___ . . . in a militaristic society like Israel, it is not surprising that an army radio station intervenes in the civil realm without question, reflecting the clear overlap between (Jewish) civil society and the military in Israel . . . only asked Jews, and are thus acting on the idea that Jews in this country have the sole authority to determine whether and how equal the Arab can be. . . .    More . . .

❸ THE ELECTRONIC INTIFADA
SLIMAN  MANSOUR  AND  THE  ART  OF  STEADFASTNESS
Linda Paganelli
Jan. 22, 2016
The history of modern Palestine can be traced through the work of its artists.
___After the 1948 ethnic cleansing of Palestine, what has become known as the Nakba, the theme of refugees — “hopeless, helpless and without homes” — dominated.
___But, as veteran artist Sliman Mansour explains, after the emergence of the armed struggle in the 1960s, “Palestinian art became proud.”    More . . .
Related . . .
❹ MONDOWEISS
“THIS  IS  A  TOTALLY  POLITICAL  ARREST,  THEY  WILL  NOT  THWART  HUMAN  RIGHTS!”  GUY  BUTAVIA  TELLS  THE  COURTHOUSE
Phil Weiss and Annie Robbins
Jan. 23, 2016
This Activestills video records Guy Butavia greeted by supporters while being led through the halls outside the Jerusalem Magistate’s Court. Butavia is one of three activists, along with Ezra Nawi and Nasser Nawajah, who are being held in custody, their identities previously placed under a sweeping gag order in a “witch hunt” after a sting operation aired on Israel’s primetime show Uvda, set up by undercover activists from a rightwing group Ad-Kan. While investigators are scurrying around trying to drum up bogus trumped up murder charges against them, everyone already knows no murder has ever taken place!   More . . .
❺ Opinion/Analysis
MIDDLE EAST MONITOR (MEMO)
HOUSE  DEMOLITIONS  BACKFIRE  ON  THE  OCCUPATION
Dr Hani Al-Masri
(Director General of Masarat, the Palestinian Center for Policy Research & Strategic Studies)
http://masarat.ps/en/content/home
Jan. 21, 2016
The wave of the intifada that has been ongoing for four consecutive months has not yet turned into a comprehensive popular intifada with a united leadership and specific goals for many reasons mentioned by me and others. The most important of these reasons is that the leadership did not adopt the intifada and remained content with its hesitant support . . . .
___. . . some actions that gave the intifada more popularity and we cannot diminish their importance, such as the popular gatherings . . . calling for the return of the martyrs’ bodies as well as forming human chains around their homes. This hindered and postponed the execution of demolition orders on several occasions.    More . . .

(This poem was written before 1948. The line “the martyr’s body sprawled on sands” are especially poignant in light of the way in which Muhammad Nabil Halabiya’s grandfather died, which he must have known.)

“THE  MARTYR,”  BY  ‘ABD  AL-RAHEEM  MAHMOUD  (1913-1948)

I shall carry my soul on the palm of my hand,
tossing it into the cavern of death!
Either a life to gladden the hearts of friends
or a death to torture the hearts of foes!
An honorable man’ spirit has two aims:
to die fighting, or to achieve victory.
Otherwise, what is life? I want no life
if we’re not respected in our land;
if our response is not feared,
if our words are not heard
echoing in the world.

By your life, I see my own death,
but I hasten my footsteps.
No greater wish than to die defending stolen rights
and my country,
My ears love the clashing of swords,
my soul is proud of martyrs’ blood.
Behold the martyr’s body
sprawled on sands, attacked by vultures,
his blood tinting the earth crimson,
haunting northern breezes with its scent.
His radiant brow covered with dust
only seems more luminous.
The smile on his lips
mocks this earthly life,
and his dreams of eternity,
shape blissful visions.

I swear this is how men should die
for how can I tolerate the harm of my enemy’s malice,
how can I endure his aggression?
Would fear stop me if it is easy to sacrifice my life?
Am I humble? I simply can endure no scorn!
With my own heart I’ll fight the enemy;
my heart of steel, my ravenous flames,
I’ll stalk my land with the blade of this sword
so my people know I’m their defender.
――Translated by Sharif Elmusa and Naomi Shihab Nye

About ‘Abd al-Raheem Mahmoud
ANTHOLOGY  OF  MODERN  PALESTINIAN  LITERATURE.  Ed. Salma Khadra Jayyusi. New York: Columbia University Press, 1992. Available from Columbia University Press.