❶ Israeli Navy Opens Fire at Gaza Fishermen, Sinks Boat
❷ Israeli forces shoot, injure Palestinian in Gaza clashes
❸ Secondhand boom for Gaza traders with no alternative
❹ Jordan prepares to install surveillance cameras at Al-Aqsa
❺ Opinion/Analysis: WHY  THIS  HAMAS  LEADER  WILL  NOT  TELL  YOU  WHAT  YOU  WANT  TO  HEAR
❻ Poetry by Nizar Qabbani
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❶ ISRAELI  NAVY  OPENS  FIRE  AT  GAZA  FISHERMEN,  SINKS  BOAT
PALESTINE NEWS AND INFORMATION AGENCY – WAFA
April 2, 2016
Israeli navy early Saturday opened fire at Palestinian fishermen off the coast of Rafah city in the southern Gaza Strip, setting fire to a boat and causing it to sink.
___. . . . No injuries were reported among the fishermen, who apparently fled the sea for fear of being detained, injured, or killed.
___This came as Israeli forces stationed at borderline watchtowers opened fire at farmers as they attempted to access their farmlands to the east of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, causing them to flee fearing for their lives.      MORE . . .
MORE . . .  (The Jerusalem Post slant on the sinking) ISRAELI  NAVY  SINKS  SUSPECTED  SMUGGLING  BOAT  OFF  OF  GAZA  COAST  

❷ ISRAELI  FORCES  SHOOT,  INJURE  PALESTINIAN  IN  GAZA  CLASHES
MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
April 2, 2016
Israeli forces shot and injured a Palestinian with live fire when clashes broke out east of al-Buriej refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip Friday, medics said.
___Medical sources told Ma’an that a Palestinian youth was shot and taken to Shuhada al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah for treatment, without specifying the youth’s condition.
___. . . . Palestinians in the Gaza Strip crowd near the borders with Israel every Friday to show solidarity with what Palestinians in besieged coastal enclave have termed the “Jerusalem Intifada” taking place in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.      MORE . . . 

❸ SECONDHAND  BOOM  FOR  GAZA  TRADERS  WITH  NO  ALTERNATIVE
THE ELECTRONIC INTIFADA
Isra Saleh el-Namey
March 28, 2016
Samer Abu Ziada’s secondhand clothes shop in al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip attracts a lot of customers. . . .
___People in the impoverished strip are increasingly turning to shops like Abu Ziada’s. It is a response, said the merchant, whose store has been open six years, to need. Most Palestinians in Gaza, he told The Electronic Intifada, can no longer afford luxuries — and new clothes are now a luxury.      MORE . . .

❹ JORDAN  PREPARES  TO  INSTALL  SURVEILLANCE  CAMERAS  AT  AL-AQSA
MA’AN NEWS AGENCY
April 2, 2016
Jordan has begun preparations to install 55 cameras at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, after months of contentious arguments over their installation appeared to be resolved. . . .
___The cameras are expected to be mounted on walls around the compound in order to document violations and raids carried out by the Israeli authorities, [Jordanian Minister of Endowment Hayil] Daoud said.
___The minister said the cameras would help Jordan politically, diplomatically and legally by providing material documentation of Israeli violations that could potentially be presented in court.      MORE . . .
RELATED . . . .  WHY  JORDAN  IS  INSTALLING  CAMERAS  AT  AL-AQSA  MOSQUE

❺ Opinion/Analysis:  WHY  THIS  HAMAS  LEADER  WILL  NOT  TELL  YOU  WHAT  YOU  WANT  TO  HEAR
AL-MONITOR (PALESTINE PULSE)
Asmaa al-Ghoul
March 30, 2016
Ahmed Yousef, a member of Hamas’ Shura Council and former political adviser to former Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, has always sung a different tune, owing to his honesty and moderate positions on political and social issues. His academic background includes a master’s degree in media and a doctorate in political science. . . .
___Yousef regularly writes articles for local websites criticizing Hamas’ performance, such as his piece published in 2014 headlined, “Have mercy on Gaza and return favor to its residents.” In this article, Yousef held both Fatah and Hamas responsible for the ongoing Palestinian division . . . .      MORE . . .

“AN  INVITATION  FOR  THE  FIFTH  OF  JUNE,”  BY  NIZAR  QABBANI 
(On the fifth anniversary of the Arab defeat in June, 1967)

I 
For the fifth year you come to us
lugging a burlap sack on your back, barefoot,
on your face the sadness of heavens
and the pain of Hussein.
We’ll receive you at every airport
with flower bouquets,
and drink — to your health — rivers of wine.
We’ll sing
and recite insincere poems in your presence,
and you’ll get used to us
and we to you.

II
We ask you to spend here your summer vacation,
like a tourist,
and we’ll offer you a royal suite
we’ve prepared — for you.
You may enjoy the night and the neon lights
and the rock and roll and the porno and the jazz —
here we know of no grief, nor the ones who grieve.
You’ll find in my country all that pleases you,
furnished flats for lovers,
liquor for drinkers,
and harem for the caliph.
Why are you so broken-winged?
Sad-faced guest,
we have water streams and gross and fair maidens —
why are you so diffident?
We’ll make you forget Palestine
and from your eyes pluck the tree of tears,
and from the Qur’an erase the verses,
the Compassionate and the Conquest,
and we’ll assassinate Jesus Christ and grant you an Arab passport
that has no exit visa.

III 
Fifth year
sixth
seventh
eighth
ninth
tenth year
what do the years count for?
All our grand cities, from the Euphrates to the Nile,
are bereft of memory, of remembrance.
We’ve forgotten the men lost in the Sinai
and our dead are dead.
What do the years count for?
We’ve prepared wreaths and the scarfs
and composed all the speeches
and carved, a week before you arrive,
the marble of the tombstones.
O Orient that feeds on the paper of communiqués
and walks — like a lamb — behind all banners.
O Orient that writes the names of its fallen men
on the faces of mirrors on the waists of belly dancers —
what do the years count for?
what do the years count for?
— —Translated by Sharif Elmusa

From MIDDLE  EAST  RESEARCH  AND  INFORMATION  PROJECT  17  (May/June 1987). Web.
About Nizar Qabbani