❶ If the Palestinians are guilty of incitement, then what does Israel’s 24/7 occupation amount to?
❷ Israeli forces injure 5 Palestinians in weekly Gaza protests
❸ Israel to Seize Hundreds of Dunums of Land for Benefit of Illegal Israeli Settlements
❹ Jerusalem at the center of Palestine-Israel naming dispute
❺ Opinion/Analysis: RELEASE  OF  A  COLD-BLOODED  KILLER  ILLUSTRATES  THE  RACISM  OF  ISRAELI  SOCIETY
❻ POETRY by Taha Muhammad ‘Ali
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❶ IF  THE  PALESTINIANS  ARE  GUILTY  OF  INCITEMENT,  THEN  WHAT  DOES  ISRAEL’S  24/7  OCCUPATION  AMOUNT  TO?
The Middle East Monitor – MEMO
Kamel Hawwash
April 22, 2016
Hardly a day goes by without Israel accusing Palestinian leaders of incitement against the state and its citizens.
___Incitement as far as Israel is concerned covers a wide spectrum, from calling those killed by Israel “martyrs” to objecting to repeated incursions by Jewish settlers into Al-Aqsa Mosque, and including the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign . . . .
___ Israel has worked tirelessly to convince the so called “international community” to accept its definition of “terrorism”. . . .
___If the Palestinians are guilty of incitement, then what does Israel’s 24/7 occupation amount to? . . . . Israel’s deliberate daily provocation and humiliation of subjugated people in the hope of a reaction . . .  is the most significant incitement of young Palestinians.      MORE . . . 

❷ ISRAELI  FORCES  INJURE  5  PALESTINIANS  IN  WEEKLY  GAZA  PROTESTS
Ma’an News Agency
April 23, 2016
Five Palestinians were injured when clashes broke out across the Gaza Strip on Friday night after Israeli forces attempted to suppress weekly protests, Gaza’s Ministry of Health said.      MORE . . .  
RELATED . . .  ISRAELI  FORCES  OPEN  FIRE  ON  PALESTINIAN  FARMERS  IN  SOUTHERN  GAZA    

❸ ISRAEL  TO  SEIZE  HUNDREDS  OF  DUNUMS  OF  LAND  FOR  BENEFIT  OF  ILLEGAL  ISRAELI  SETTLEMENTS
Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA
April 23, 2016
Israeli occupation authorities Saturday notified the takeover of hundreds of dunums of land in the village of Jalood to the south of Nablus, as well as in the towns of Turmosayya and al-Mghayar to the north of Ramallah, to pave a new road that would serve illegal Israeli outposts and settlements, according to a local official. . . .
___The notice also included a plan to open a road, designated for the sole use of Israelis, that would connect the illegal Israeli settlement of ‘Shiloh’ with other settlement outposts to the east.      MORE . . .

❹ JERUSALEM  AT  THE  CENTER  OF  PALESTINE-ISRAEL  NAMING  DISPUTE
Al-Monitor (Palestine Pulse)
Ahmad Abu Amer
April 20, 2016
Shortly after Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967 it faced a problem in how to refer to Jerusalem in Arabic. Not wanting to use the Arabic name al-Quds, the Israelis came up with a compromise by inserting the biblical Jewish name Urashalim. . . . Combining the Jewish and the Arabic term reflected what then was the prevalent Israeli attitude of treating the holy city as a crucible of religions. . . .
___But over the years, Israelis lessened their pluralistic effort as they embarked on a strategic policy to make the city more Jewish. Arabic names were slowly changed to Hebrew ones.      MORE . . .

❺ Opinion/Analysis:  RELEASE  OF  A  COLD-BLOODED  KILLER  ILLUSTRATES  THE  RACISM  OF  ISRAELI  SOCIETY
International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team
April 23, 2016
Yesterday, Elor Azraya, a soldier in the Israeli army, infamous for the extrajudicial execution of Abed al-Fattah al-Sharif in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron), has been released to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Pessach with his family [. . . . ]
___The approval and support Elor Azraya has been receiving both from his comrades (that can be seen in the video with them not even flinching when he executes Abed al-Fattah) and settlers, mirrors the great support he enjoys from the majority of the Israeli population. Upon arriving home, Elor Azraya was received as a hero with a big celebration. MORE . . .  

(The “child” is a metaphor for Palestine. This poem is chosen to reflect the news of the day that Israel has once again confiscated Palestinian land, but Palestine does not die.)

“THROMBOSIS,”  BY  TAHA  MUHAMMAD  ‘ALI

A child I was
when I fell into the abyss
But I did not die
I was very young
when I drowned in the pond
But I did not die
Nowadays one of my habits―God preserve us―
is to knock against scores of land mines
on the frontiers
and for my songs to be dispersed
as the days of my youth are:
here a flower, there a scream
But I do not die.

They slew me upon the threshold
Like the lamb of the feast
―petroleum coagulated in my veins
―In God’s name―
Thousands of times they slit my throat
from ear to ear
yet each time my blood would swing
like the feet of a hanged man
and settle like a rose mallow
large and crimson, a mark
to warn ships
and point out the sites of palaces and embassies.

And tomorrow!
―God preserve us!―
A telephone will not ring
in palaces or in brothels or in one of the Gulf Emirates
except to offer a new prescription
for my extermination
But . . . .
Just as the rose mallow tells
and as the frontiers expect
I shall not die!
Shall not die!
I shall remain a splinter of shrapnel
the size of a penknife
lodged in their necks
I shall remain
a blood stain
the size of a cloud
on this world’s tunic!
―Translated by Lena Jayyusi and John Heath-Stubbs

About Taha Muhammad ‘Ali 
From: ANTHOLOGY  OF  MODERN  PALESTINIAN  LITERATURE.  Ed. Salma Khadra Jayyusi. New York: Columbia University Press, 1992. Available from Columbia University Press.