❶ Israel’s Rejection of French Initiative Reaffirms Its Decision to Continue Its Crimes, says PLO Erekat
❷ Unemployment Rate in Palestine in 2015 Reached 26%, says Statistics Bureau
❸ A Hard Time for Start-Ups: The Legal and Regulatory Environment for Entrepreneurs in Palestine
❹ Hebron shooter called to ‘kill everyone in Gaza’
❺ Opinion/Analysis: UNDERSTANDING  THE  BIRZEIT  ELECTIONS
❻ POETRY by Samih Al-Qasim
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❶ ISRAEL’S  REJECTION  OF  FRENCH  INITIATIVE  REAFFIRMS  ITS  DECISION  TO  CONTINUE  ITS  CRIMES,  SAYS  PLO  EREKAT
Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA
April 30, 2016
PLO Secretary General, Sa’eb Erekat, maintained that the Israeli rejection of the French Initiative, ‘is a reaffirmation of the Israeli government’s decision to continue its crimes and violations.
___The PLO official noted that the Israeli rejection of the French initiative; to convene an international peace conference intended to revive the moribund Palestinian-Israeli peace process,  came a few hours after Israeli officials informed the Palestinian side that the Israeli government has decided to continue violating its obligations under the signed agreements, including the daily military raids in vast areas of the Occupied State of Palestine.      MORE . . .  

❷ UNEMPLOYMENT  RATE  IN  PALESTINE  IN  2015  REACHED  26%,  SAYS  STATISTICS  BUREAU
Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA
April 30, 2016
The unemployment rate among participants in the labour force aged 15 years and above in Palestine was 26% (About 336 thousand persons were unemployed), said the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statists (PCBS).
___On the occasion of International Labour Day, which falls annually on the 1st of May, PCBS presented the current status of Palestinian labour force during 2015.      MORE . . .

❸ A  HARD  TIME  FOR  START-UPS:  THE  LEGAL  AND  REGULATORY  ENVIRONMENT  FOR  ENTREPRENEURS  IN  PALESTINE
This Week in Palestine
May, 2016
Tareq Touqan
According to the 2016 World Bank’s Doing Business report, the Palestinian economy is currently ranked 170th out of 189 world economies in terms of ease of starting a business. This represents a drop of 11 places from the 2015 ranking, which only serves to verify that starting a business in Palestine is certainly not getting any easier. In spite of this, it is difficult to ignore the growing start-up community in Palestine.      MORE . . .

❹ HEBRON  SHOOTER  CALLED  TO  ‘KILL  EVERYONE  IN  GAZA’
+972 Blog
April 29, 2016
John Brown*
On the Facebook page belonging to the IDF soldier who shot and killed the wounded Palestinian assailant in Hebron, one can find calls to massacre everyone living in Gaza, and support for Jewish terrorist Meir Kahane. His father also expressed support for Kahane and for the call to “kill everyone.” His mother suggested killing women and children, first among them, Knesset Member Haneen Zoabi.    MORE . . . 

*John Brown is the pseudonym of an Israeli academic and a blogger. A version of this article was first published in Hebrew on Local Call, where he is a blogger. Read it here. 

❺ Opinion/Analysis:  UNDERSTANDING  THE  BIRZEIT  ELECTIONS
Palestine Chronicle
Abdul Sattar Qassem
April 29, 2016
The elections held at the Palestinian universities, Birzeit and Al-Najah, are considered a good indicator of the popularity of Palestinian factions. The media outlets usually refer to the student union to sense the popular Palestinian feelings towards the Palestinian factions and organisations.
___In recent years, the media outlets focused on Birzeit University because its administration believes in democracy and insists on holding elections [. . . .]
___The Birzeit University student union elections were held on 27 April 2016 and Hamas won 25 out of 51 seats.      MORE . . .

TWO  SHORT  POEMS  BY  SAMIH  AL-QASIM 

“TICKETS”

The day I’m killed
my killer will find
tickets in my pockets:
One to peace,
and one to fields and the rain,
and one
to humanity’s conscience.

I beg you―please don’t waste them.
I beg you, you who kill me: Go.

“STORY OF A CITY”

There was a blue city
that dreamt of foreigners wandering
around and spending their money
day after day.

But it became a black city
despising strangers
with their rifles’ muzzles
making the rounds of its cafés . . . .

From Al-Qasim, Samih. SADDER  THAN  WATER.  NEW  AND  SELECTED  POEMS.  Trans. Nazih Kasis and Adina Hoffman. Jerusalem: Ibis Editions, 2008.    Available from Amazon
Samih Al-Qasim. Obituary, August 20, 2014