“. . . the bed of her elder son, made for the final time and empty. . .” (Mourid Barghouti)

HEBRON: Israeli settler Itamar Ben Gvir (right), dressed as a Palestinian prisoner, marches in a parade celebrating the Jewish holiday of Purim on Shuhada Street, heavily guarded by Israeli police and military forces, Hebron, West Bank, February 24, 2013. (Photo: ActiveStills, file)
HEBRON: Israeli settler Itamar Ben Gvir (right), dressed as a Palestinian prisoner, marches in a parade celebrating the Jewish holiday of Purim on Shuhada Street, heavily guarded by Israeli police and military forces, Hebron, West Bank, February 24, 2013. (Photo: ActiveStills, file)

❶ Israeli Forces Shoot Dead Two Palestinians in Hebron
❷ Israeli forces level large swathe of land, demolish shack near Hebron
❸ Israelis converge on West Bank [Hebron] holy sites in ‘provocative’ visits
❹ On World Water Day, Palestinians in West Bank refugee camps struggle with scarce resource
❺ Opinion/Analysis: DABKA,  NOT  TANGO:  THE  PALESTINIAN  ISSUE  IS  ON  HOLD
❻ Poetry by Mourid Barghouti
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
ISRAELI  FORCES  SHOOT  DEAD  TWO  PALESTINIANS  IN  HEBRON
PALESTINE NEWS AND INFORMATION AGENCY – WAFA
24 Mar. 2016
Israeli forces Thursday morning shot dead two Palestinians in Tal Rumeida neighborhood in the center of the southern West Bank city of Hebron, said the Health Ministry. . . .
___Israeli media reported that the two men were killed after they allegedly stabbed and wounded a soldier at a checkpoint by the neighborhood.      MORE . . . 

ISRAELI  FORCES  LEVEL  LARGE  SWATHE  OF  LAND,  DEMOLISH  SHACK  NEAR  HEBRON
MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
March 23, 2016
Israeli forces on Tuesday leveled 40 dunams (9.88 acres) of land west of Hebron and demolished a tin shack in the Masafer Yatta area in the southern occupied West Bank, locals said.
___Village spokesman Abdul-Rahman al-Tumazi told Ma’an that Israeli troops leveled the lands in the Suba area of the village of Idhna in order to illegaly annex it to a nearby Israeli settlement.      MORE . . .  

ISRAELIS  CONVERGE  ON  WEST  BANK  [HEBRON]  HOLY  SITES  IN  ‘PROVOCATIVE’  VISITS
MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
23 Mar. 2016
Hundreds of Israelis, including large numbers of settlers, converged on religious sites across the occupied West Bank on Wednesday morning ahead of the Jewish holiday of Purim, in visits Palestinians condemned as “provocative.”
___In the southern West Bank city of Hebron, Israeli settlers as well as other right-wing Israelis held celebrations in the Old City’s Ibrahimi Mosque. . . . used the mosque’s loudspeakers “to sing racist songs that call for the expulsion of ‘Arabs’ from Hebron.”      MORE . . .

Israeli demolition in Khirbet Jenbeh on March 22, 2016. (Photo Credit: B'Tselem/Nasser Nawaj'a, File)
Israeli demolition in Khirbet Jenbeh on March 22, 2016. (Photo Credit: B’Tselem/Nasser Nawaj’a, File)

ON  WORLD  WATER  DAY,  PALESTINIANS  IN  WEST  BANK  REFUGEE  CAMPS  STRUGGLE  WITH  SCARCE  RESOURCES
MONDOWEISS
Abed Al Qaisi and Sheren Khalel
22 Mar. 2016
As the world celebrates World Water Day this week, Palestinians in refugee camps across the occupied West Bank are preparing for the summer, when water becomes scarce.
___While the World Health Organization recommends 100 liters of water per person per day, Palestinians in the occupied West Bank use less than 73 liters, with those in refugee camps using even less. In Israel, residents use an average of 183 liters per person, per day.   MORE . . . 

OPINION/ANALYSIS:  DABKA,  NOT  TANGO:  THE  PALESTINIAN  ISSUE  IS  ON  HOLD
PALESTINE CHRONICLE
Yasser Ali
23 Mar. 2016
The Palestinian issue is experiencing paralysis due a number of international, regional, local and personal reasons, all of which have pushed it into a negative status quo. It is no longer moved or activated by major events, such as the Jerusalem Intifada, and no longer has any historical figures, like Yasser Arafat, who can break the mold dramatically, one way or the other.
___. . . .  the process must be like the Palestinian dabka, which needs every participant’s efforts to be made in a unified line, standing shoulder to shoulder for the overall good of everyone involved.       MORE . . .

“HOW  ARE  YOU?”  BY  MOURID  BARGHOUTI

Waiting for the school bus,
watching his breath turn into mist near his nose
in the icy morning,
the schoolboy’s fingers are frozen,
too stiff to make a fist.

On the pillow of regret,
the defeated soldier
lazily tries to get up,
raising his broken toothbrush
to his teeth.

Early or late,
The stranger awakens in his exile, his homeland.
Their clothes, their car number pates, their trees,
their quarrels, their love, their land, their sea
belong to them.
His memories are like rats gathering on his doormat,
new and warm
in front of his closed door.

On a lonely pillow,
the mother throws a quick glance
at the bed of her elder son,
made for the final time
and empty, forever.

A voice from the neighbouring window is heard:
“Hello, good morning, how are you?”
“Hello, good morning, we’re fine,
we’re fine!”

From: Barghouti, Mourid. MIDNIGHT  AND  OTHER  POEMS. Trans. By Radwa Ashour. Todmorden, Lancashire, UK: Arc Books, 2008. Available from B&N.
Mourid Barghouti (born July 8, 1944, in Deir Ghassana, near Ramallah, on the West Bank) is a Palestinian poet and writer. While Barghouti was studying at the University of Cairo in 1967, the 6-Day War broke out, and he was unable to return to the West Bank until 1996. He was expelled from Egypt in 1977 and was exiled in Budapest.
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