. . . . . ❶―(ᴀ) Palestinian rights group warns of ‘real escalation’ of situation in Israeli prisons
. . . . . ❶―(ᴃ) More than 7,700 Palestinians inside Israeli jails
❷ Israeli troops raid orphan aid center in Beit Ummar
❸ Indonesian FM: Stop Israeli oppression of Palestine
❹ IOF kidnap 19 Palestinians including 6 children, West Bank & Jerusalem
❺ Opinion/Analysis: WHAT IS MARTIN LUTHER KING’S NAME DOING IN THE RUINS OF A PALESTINIAN VILLAGE?
❻ Poetry by Samih Al-Qasim
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❶ PA CRITICIZES ISRAELI BILL CALLING TO BAN MUSLIM CALL TO PRAYER
THE MIDDLE EAST MONITOR
7 Mar. 2016
The Palestinian Authority (PA) yesterday criticized an Israeli bill calling to ban the Muslim call to prayer, Quds Press reported.
___The information ministry considered the bill, which was discussed yesterday by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, a “violation of all borders, aggression on the sanctity of God’s houses, harming Muslims’ feelings and violation of the simplest of religious freedoms.” MORE . . .
. . . . . ❶―(ᴀ) PALESTINIAN RIGHTS GROUP WARNS OF ‘REAL ESCALATION’ OF SITUATION IN ISRAELI PRISONS
THE MIDDLE EAST MONITOR
7 Mar. 2016
The Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs has warned that the state of tension in various Israeli prisons is likely to significantly escalate as a result of violations against prisoners.
___The group said in a statement released on Sunday that prisoners belonging to Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine had been on hunger strike for one day to protest sanctions imposed on them and as a “warning step”. MORE . . .
. . . . . ❶―(B) MORE THAN 7,700 PALESTINIANS INSIDE ISRAELI JAILS
DAYS OF PALESTINE
Mar 6, 2016
More than 7,700 Palestinians are currently imprisoned by Israeli occupation authorities, Military Court Watch (MCW) reported on Sunday.
___According to the Israeli Prison Service (IPS), as of 31 January 2016, there were 7,766 Palestinians, from the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.
___MCW said that 423 Palestinian children are included in this number. MORE . . .
❷ ISRAELI TROOPS RAID ORPHAN AID CENTER IN BEIT UMMAR
MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
7 Mar. 2016
Dozens of Palestinians suffered from severe tear gas inhalation on Monday after Israeli troops raided an aid organization serving orphans in the southern occupied West Bank town of Beit Ummar, seizing equipment and assaulting staff.
___Activist Muhammad Ayyad Awad told Ma’an that “Israeli troops seized files from the institution, three computer devices, and stormed the institution before they tied up the guard, Kareem Ikhalyel, in a room.” MORE . . .
❸ INDONESIAN FM: STOP ISRAELI OPPRESSION OF PALESTINE
PALESTINE NEWS NETWORK
7 Mar. 2016
The Indonesian Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi has called for halting Israeli oppression of Palestine and its people on Sunday before the fifth extraordinary session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Palestine in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.
___“Israel’s intransigence towards Palestine and Jerusalem continues along with its occupation of the Palestinian territories which is illegal. Your support will lay the foundations for stability and peace in Palestine,” Marsudi said. MORE . . .
❹ IOF KIDNAP 19 PALESTINIANS INCLUDING 6 CHILDREN, WEST BANK & JERUSALEM
PALESTINE NEWS NETWORK
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) on Monday morning have kidnapped 19 Palestinians, six of them children under the age of 15.
___The Palestinian prisoners’ club stated that IOF kidnapped five Palestinians from the East Jerusalem area, four of them aged between 13-15 years. MORE . . .
❺ Opinion/Analysis
WHAT IS MARTIN LUTHER KING’S NAME DOING IN THE RUINS OF A PALESTINIAN VILLAGE?
+972 MAGAZINE
Umar Al-Ghubari (translated by Richard Flantz)
6 Mar. 2016
Martin Luther King’s name appears on the donors wall of Ayalon Canada Park in the Latrun area, which Israel conquered in 1967 before it carried out an ethnic cleansing of the area. The site of the donors wall includes many stone panels on walls that were erected on the ruins of the Palestinian village Imwas, which Israel flattened in 1967. Imwas is identified with Roman-Byzantine town Emmaus-Nicopolis. MORE . . .
(Blogger’s Note: This poem was written around the time of the 1967 War when Israel conquered the territories of Palestine that were not included in the 1948 “Partition.” It is an imaginary conversation between the poet and a black sailor from America “a ship of the Dollar”. The poet’s words are italicized and the sailor’s in quotes. The similarities of their situations in 1967 are obvious. The similarities have again become obvious with the racist and pro-Israel rhetoric of the US Presidential campaign.)
“IN ENEMY LINES,” BY SAMIH AL-QASIM
Yesterday, he stopped me in the street, asked about a bar
Where he could pass the evening.
He was a black sailor,
A deck-hand in a ship of the Dollar,
We talked, and I liked him
Would you like a drink, friend?
At a secluded table in the noisy café
My friend drank heedlessly
This black man wanted to forget
Why? From what depths does this man spring?
Tell me of your life in America the free,
Of the white man’s school, of his church, and his hotel
Speak to me of the fluorescent signs:
no dogs, Jews, or Negros allowed!
“Oh, leave me alone for Satan’s sake
Is there a woman around? Before dawn
We’ll be sailing and leaving this port!”
Very well! Tell me of the black fire
Have you heard of a hunted lion?
Of the forests becoming ashes in the night
Of a field planted with martyrs
Of a people grown in a land
Watered with the blood of the murdered
Of a sun born pregnant with bread, dreams, and freedom?
Have you heard of Africa?
“I hear, I hear, the rolls of the Simbas’ drums
I see a black beauty
Writhing like an angry fire
In a dance of bloodied love.”
Very well! Speak to me of Cuba.
What do you know of a people that are
No longer a crucified Christ.
“Cuba? If I had a guitar tonight
If I sing a song
A curtain would move and reveal
A sensuous body in the window.
Waitress!
Damn you, my glass is empty.
And my senses are still clear, and the entertainer
What silenced his tunes?”
Yesterday he stopped me in the street
Searching for a bar
This morning the news told of
A white American who died,
As his lips quivered with a cry:
Down with the words
Written in blood, in anguish,
Down with the shame of man
Raised by the Fascists waving mud-stained banners
Those words that say:
No dogs, Jews, or Negroes allowed.
About Samih Al-Qasim
From: Aruri, Naseer and Edmund Ghareeb, eds. ENEMY OF THE SUN: POETRY OF THE PALESTINIAN RESISTANCE. Washington, DC: Drum and Spear Press, 1970.
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