❶ Israeli soldiers kill 15-year-old Palestinian near Beita checkpoint
❷ Army Kidnaps 17 Palestinians in the West Bank
❸ Israeli forces attack protest in Hebron
❹ Why is Israel raiding Palestinian universities?
❺ Opinion/Analysis: EUROPE  IS  FOLLOWING  OBAMA – WASHING  ITS  HANDS  OF  PALESTINE  AND  WHY
❻ Poetry by Ibrahim Nasrallah
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
ISRAELI  SOLDIERS  KILL  15-YEAR-OLD  PALESTINIAN NEAR  BEITA  CHECKPOINT
Feb. 21, 2016
Israeli forces on Sunday killed a 15-year-old Palestinian after he allegedly attempted to stab an Israeli soldier near Nablus in the occupied West Bank.
___An Israeli army spokeswoman told Ma’an that a Palestinian attempted to stab a soldier near the Beita checkpoint in the northern West Bank, and that Israeli forces then fired at the man. . . .
___Over 170 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers since a wave of unrest spread across the occupied Palestinian territory in October.    More . . .
❷ IMEMC-INTERNATIONAL MIDDLE EAST MEDIA CENTER
ARMY  KIDNAPS  17  PALESTINIANS  IN  THE  WEST  BANK
Feb. 21, 2016
The Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) has reported, Sunday, that Israeli soldiers have kidnapped, overnight and on Sunday, at least 17 Palestinians in different parts of the occupied West Bank, and that among that kidnapped are two teenage girls.    More . . .
❸ ALTERNATIVE INFORMATION CENTER (AIC)
ISRAELI  FORCES  ATTACK  PROTEST  IN  HEBRON
Ahmad Jaradat
Feb. 21, 2016
The Hebron Defense Committee, Tarabout and the Alternative Information Center (AIC) held a demonstration on Saturday in Hebron under the slogan “Dismantle the Ghetto, Take the Settlers Out of Hebron.”
___When the protest reached the Beit Romano settlement checkpoint, Israeli soldiers shot tear gas and stun grenades at demonstrators.     More . . .

❹ AL-MONITOR (PALESTINE PULSE)
WHY  IS  ISRAEL  RAIDING  PALESTINIAN  UNIVERSITIES?
Ahmad Melhem
Feb. 19, 2016
During the current uprising in the West Bank, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) stormed two Palestinian universities: Birzeit University near Ramallah on Jan. 11 and Al-Quds University at Abu Dis in East Jerusalem on Jan. 29.
___The IDF attacked the Birzeit student council building . . . . At Al-Quds University, the IDF raided the student blocs’ offices . . . the Dawa and Fundamentals of Religion Faculty building . . . .
___“The Israeli army is attacking universities within the scope of an Israeli systematic scheme designed to eradicate the Palestinian identity and tame the Palestinian young generation’s libertarianism by disrupting the educational process,” Palestinian Minister of Education and Higher Education Sabri Saidam said.   More . . .
❺ Opinion/Analysis
PALESTINE CHRONICLE
EUROPE  IS  FOLLOWING  OBAMA  –  WASHING  ITS  HANDS  OF  PALESTINE  AND  WHY
Alan Hart
Feb. 20, 2016
My headline is a response to recent comments made by German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a joint press conference in Berlin with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu . . . .
___The possession of nuclear weapons is Zionism’s ultimate blackmail card. . . .
___At a point I said to Dayan, “What you seem to be saying is . . . ‘Don’t push us too far or we’ll use these things.’”
___Dayan gave me a big smile and replied, “You’re understanding me.”    More . . .
BACKGROUND . . . BULLETIN OF THE ATOMIC SCIENTISTS
Related . . . . Washington Post
Related . . . New York Times
Related . . . Middle East Monitor 

“THE  CELEBRATION,”  BY  IBRAHIM  NASRALLAH
Flowers, songs, chants. . .
A memory from antiquity. . .
Saturday’s dawning sun. . .
An orphan is late. . .
A widow comes by embracing another widow. . .
A singer. . .
Verses from the Qur’an. . .
A flute on the outskirts of a neglected village. . .
Ancient soldiers. . .
Battles, defeated ages. . .
Thirty wars announced by daylight. . .
Another still hidden in their sheaths. . .
Little ones dressed up for a feast. . .
Horses filled with the joy of their riders. . .
A procession coming from far away. . .
Ululations reaching across the sky, a commotion. . .
Men emerging from darkness. . .
from yesterday’s newspapers, from the inkwell.
All of them came,
took pictures,
cursed the end of life and memory,
drank from the cup of a slain dream,
before their leader stepped forward
to cut the silk ribbon
and open the graveyard.

About Ibrahim Nasrallah
From Nasrallah, Ibrahim. RAIN  INSIDE:  SELECTED  POEMS.  Trans. Omnia Amin and Rick London. Willimantic, CT: Curbstone Press, 2009. Available from Amazon.