❶ Cabinet Condemns Execution of Pregnant Mother, Brother at Qalandia Checkpoint
. . . . . ❶― (ᴀ) Israeli forces kill Palestinian woman and brother, armed with knives: police
❷ CHAOS  CONTINUES  AT  AL-AQSA,  5 Israelis evacuated
❸ Israeli Soldiers Injure Palestinian Teen after SETTLERS  BREAK  INTO  HISTORICAL  SITE
❹ Hamas bloc wins over student vote in Birzeit University elections
❺ Opinion/Analysis: DID  THE  ARABS  BETRAY  PALESTINE?
❻ POETRY by ‘Abd al-Raheem Mahmoud
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ CABINET  CONDEMNS  EXECUTION  OF  PREGNANT  MOTHER,  BROTHER  AT  QALANDIA  CHECKPOINT
Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA
April 28, 2016
The Palestinian cabinet Thursday condemned the international silence towards the execution of the Taha siblings, and the reaction towards Israel’s violations, including arrests, raids and harassment.
___The government’s spokesperson Yousef Mahmoud said in a press release that the execution of siblings Maram and Ibrahim Taha at Qalandia military checkpoint Wednesday is just another crime to be added to a long Israeli record.      MORE . . .  
. . . . . ❶― (ᴀ) ISRAELI  FORCES  KILL  PALESTINIAN  WOMAN  AND  BROTHER,  ARMED  WITH  KNIVES:  POLICE
Reuters
Jeffrey Heller
April 27, 2016
Israeli police shot dead a Palestinian woman and her teenage brother on Wednesday, saying they were armed with knives and tried to carry out an attack at a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank.
___Police said the woman, holding a knife, and a man walked rapidly towards police and other Israeli security guards in a vehicles-only lane at the Qalandia checkpoint outside Jerusalem.      MORE . . .

❷ CHAOS  CONTINUES  AT  AL-AQSA,  5  ISRAELIS  EVACUATED
Ma’an News Agency
April 27, 2016
Chaos continued at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem Wednesday when five Israelis were evacuated for violating visitation rules as hundreds toured the area for Passover.
___Witnesses told Ma’an that a group of over a hundred right-wing Israelis entered the mosque compound via Dung Gate, four of whom performed religious rituals in violation of longstanding agreements regarding worship at the site.      MORE . . .

❸ ISRAELI  SOLDIERS  INJURE  PALESTINIAN  TEEN  AFTER  SETTLERS  BREAK  INTO  HISTORICAL  SITE  
Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA
April 28, 2016
Israeli soldiers Thursday shot a Palestinian teen during confrontations that erupted with Palestinians youth near Joseph tomb east of Nablus, said security sources.
___The teen, identified as Ahmad Masoud, 17, from Balata refugee camp was hit with a live bullet in the hip area after confrontations erupted when Israeli settlers broke into the area.      MORE . . .    

❹ HAMAS  BLOC  WINS  OVER  STUDENT  VOTE  IN  BIRZEIT UNIVERSITY  ELECTIONS
Ma’an News Agency
April 28, 2016
___A student bloc of the Hamas movement on Wednesday came out on top in the closely-followed elections at Birzeit University in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.
___Following debates between factions vying for the student vote, the pro-Hamas al-Wafaa Islamic bloc claimed victory after gaining 25 seats, with the Yasser Arafat bloc of the Fatah movement trailing behind with 21 seats.
___The bloc representing Leftist movement Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine for its part came out with five seats.     MORE . . .   

❺ Opinion/Analysis:  DID  THE  ARABS  BETRAY  PALESTINE?
Palestine Chronicle
Ramzy Baroud
Apr 27 2016
At the age of 21 [1993], I crossed Gaza into Egypt to pursue a degree in political science. The timing could have not been worse [. . . .]
___It was then [after the 1967 War] that some Arab countries’ relations with Palestine began changing. Israel’s victory and the US-West’s unremitting support convinced some Arab governments to downgrade their expectations, and expected the Palestinians to do so, as well.
___So, did the Arabs betray Palestine? The question is heard often, and it is often followed with the affirmative, ‘yes, they did’ [. . . .]
___I beg to differ.      MORE . . .

“THE  AQSA  MOSQUE,”  BY  ‘ABD  AL-RAHEEM  MAHMOUD  (1913-1948)
(A salute to Prince Saud Ibn ‘Abd al’Aziz when he visited the poet’s town, ‘Anabta, on August 14, 1935.)

Honorable Prince! Before you stands a poet
whose heart harbors bitter complaint.
Have you come to visit the Aqsa mosque
or to bid it farewell before its loss?
This land, this holy land, is being sold to all intruders
and stabbed by its own people!
And tomorrow looms over us, nearer and nearer!
Nothing shall remain for us but our streaming tears,
our deep regrets.

Oh, Prince, shout, shout! Your voice
might shake people awake!
Ask the guards of the Aqsa: are they all agreed to struggle
as one body and mind?
Ask the guards of the Aqsa: can a covenant with God
be offered to someone, then lost?
Forgive the complaint, but a grieving heart needs to complain
to the Prince, even if it makes him weep.

(This poem gained great fame later on because of its prophetic words about imminent loss of Palestine.)

About ‘Abd al-Raheem Mahmoud
ANTHOLOGY  OF  MODERN  PALESTINIAN  LITERATURE.  Ed. Salma Khadra Jayyusi. New York: Columbia University Press, 1992. Available from Columbia University Press.
About Prince Saud Ibn ‘Abd al’Aziz