The first post on this blog. See explanation at the end of this posting.

❶ Israel to Demolish Houses of Three Slain Palestinians
❷ Israel Demolishes Home, Destroys Structures near Bethlehem
❸ Netanyahu calls criticisms of Israeli army ‘outrageous’ in wake of Hebron killing
❹ U.S. states, academies crackdown on BDS
. . . . . ❹―(ᴀ) UNHRC blacklists Israeli firms working in settlements
❺ [Israeli] Opinion/Analysis: UPDATED: FACT SHEET – SAMPLES OF RECENT INFLAMMATORY COMMENTS AND INCITEMENT BY ISRAELI OFFICIALS AND LEADERS
❻ Poetry by Mahmoud Darwish
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❶ ISRAEL  TO  DEMOLISH  HOUSES  OF  THREE  SLAIN  PALESTINIANS
PALESTINE NEWS AND INFORMATION AGENCY – WAFA
March 28, 2016
Israeli forces on Monday made preparations for the punitive demolition of the family houses of three Palestinians suspected of carrying out a fatal attack outside Damascus Gate entrance to Jerusalem’s Old City in early February, families said.
___Israeli forces stormed and took measurements of the family houses of Ahmad Zakarneh, Muhammad Kamil and Najeh Abu al-Rub during a predawn raid into the Jenin town of Qabatiya as a prelude for punitive demolition.      MORE . . .

❷ ISRAEL  DEMOLISHES  HOME,  DESTROYS  STRUCTURES  NEAR  BETHLEHEM
PALESTINE NEWS AND INFORMATION AGENCY – WAFA
March 28, 2016
Israeli authorities Monday demolished and destroyed a home, a farm, electric wires, a water network, trees, and razed a tract of land at the northern entrance to Bethlehem, in southern West Bank, according to local sources.
___Khader Jarashi, owner of the demolished structures, told WAFA that some 50 Israeli military vehicles accompanied by bulldozers broke into the northern entrance of Bethlehem, before they demolished his own house, in addition to a poultry farm, a playground, electric wires and a water network.      MORE . . .

❸ NETANYAHU  CALLS  CRITICISMS  OF  ISRAELI  ARMY  ‘OUTRAGEOUS’  IN  WAKE  OF  HEBRON  KILLING
MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
March 27, 2016
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted on Sunday to the shooting of a wounded Palestinian at point-blank range in the southern occupied West Bank city of Hebron earlier this week, stating that any questioning of the Israeli army’s moral integrity was “outrageous and unacceptable.”
___. . .  Netanyahu commented in the wake of the killing of Abd al-Fattah Yusri al-Sharif, 21, on Thursday, which sparked widespread outrage after footage by Israeli rights group B’Tselem showed an Israeli soldier shooting al-Sharif in the head while the young Palestinian was lying wounded on the ground. . . .
___“. . . .  The soldiers of the IDF, our children, maintain high ethical values while courageously fighting against bloodthirsty murderers under difficult operational conditions,” Netanyahu said.      MORE . . .
RELATED . . . ISRAELI  SETTLERS  THREATEN  PALESTINIAN  WHO  FILMED  HEBRON  ‘EXECUTION’

❹ U.S. STATES,  ACADEMIES  CRACKDOWN  ON  BDS
ALTERNATIVE INFORMATION CENTER
March 28, 2016
On March 18th the Illinois Investment Policy Board blacklisted 11 companies from doing business with the state for allegedly boycotting Israel.
___. . . .  Now, Illinois is the first state to actually form a list of companies barred from working with the state’s government due to their alleged boycott of Israel. . . .
___Palestine Legal has identified 21 states in the United States with legislation to punish or suppress the BDS movement.    MORE . . .
. . . . . ❹ ―(ᴀ) UNHRC  BLACKLISTS  ISRAELI  FIRMS  WORKING  IN  SETTLEMENTS
THE MIDDLE EAST MONITOR
March 26, 2016
The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has voted on Thursday to establish a database of Israeli companies working in settlements in order to blacklist them.
___According to news reports, this measure was one of four Palestinian Authority (PA) proposals approved by the council.
___Efforts to establish the database was fiercely opposed by Israel, the United States and the United Kingdom.     MORE . . .

❺ [Israeli] Opinion/Analysis:  UPDATED:  FACT  SHEET –  SAMPLES  OF  RECENT  INFLAMMATORY  COMMENTS  AND  INCITEMENT  BY  ISRAELI  OFFICIALS  AND  LEADERS
DEPARTMENT OF CULTURE & INFORMATION. PLO
MARCH 28, 2016
. . . .  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (December 2015) : “There is a difference between Arab terror and Jewish terror.”     MORE . . . 

(Note: this was the poem in the first post in this blog.)

    “I BELONG THERE,” BY MAHMOUD DARWISH

I didn’t apologize to the well when I passed the well,
I borrowed from the ancient pine tree a cloud
and squeezed it like an orange, then waited for a gazelle
white and legendary. And I ordered my heart to be patient:
Be neutral as if you were not of me! Right here
the kind shepherds stood on air and evolved
their flutes, then persuaded the mountain quail toward
the snare. And right here I saddled a horse for flying toward
my planets, then flew. And right here the priestess
told me: Beware of the asphalt road and the cars
and walk upon your exhalation. Right here
I slackened my shadow and waited, I picked the tiniest
rock and stayed up late. I broke the myth and I broke.
And I circled the well until I flew from myself
to what isn’t of it. A deep voice shouted at me:
This grave isn’t your grave. So I apologized.
I read verses from the wise holy book, and said
to the unknown one in the well: Salaam upon you the day
you were killed in the land of peace, and the day you rise
from the darkness of the well alive!

From UNFORTUNATELY,  IT  WAS  PARADISE by Mahmoud Darwish. Trans. by Munir Akash and Carolyn Forché. Berkeley, CA: UC Press, 2003. Available from Amazon. 
One of the best biographical sketches of MAHMOUD DARWISH available.   
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I missed the ANNIVERSARY of the first post on this blog. I DID NOT REALIZE IT HAD BEEN A YEAR―13 MONTHS NOW. I was startled to see that post included a report on RABBIS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS and its open letter to Benyamin Netanyahu asking for cessation of Palestinian home demolitions, startled because nothing―nothing―seems to have changed in that year. My link was to the article in the RUSSIAN TIMES, which I no longer use, giving in to negative feedback I received. It was, however, a reprint of the INDEPENDENT article here:

HUNDREDS OF RABBIS FROM AROUND THE WORLD CALL ON ISRAEL TO HALT DEMOLITION OF PALESTINIAN HOMES; RABBIS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS HAS SUBMITTED AN OPEN LETTER TO BENJAMIN NETANYAHU
INDEPENDENT.CO.UK.
Lizzie Dearden
Feb. 7, 2015
More than 400 rabbis from Israel, Britain and around the world have called on Benjamin Netanyahu to stop the demolition of Palestinian homes.
___Rabbis for Human Rights (RHR) has submitted an open letter to the Israeli Prime Minister claiming his stance is not in line with “international law and Jewish tradition”.
MORE . . .