❶ Birzeit University Celebrates 41st Commencement
❷ Settlers are daily razing Palestinian lands in northern West Bank
❸ Israeli Navy kidnaps 10 Palestinian Fishers, Confiscates Five Boats
❹ Black Panthers and Diaspora Palestinians illuminate shared struggle on Nakba day [Oakland, CA, USA]
. . ❹ ― (ᴀ) Palestinian Art Court Al Hoash holds “WHAT’S NEXT” exhibition
❺ Opinion/Analysis: THE  COUP  AGAINST  ISRAEL’S  ARMY
. . ❺― (ᴀ) BARGHOUTHI:  NETANYAHU’S  GOV’T  GOES  FROM  EXTREMISM  TO  INSANE  EXTREMISM
❻ POETRY by Rashid Hussein
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❶ BIRZEIT  UNIVERSITY CELEBRATES  41ST  COMMENCEMENT
Birzeit University
May 21, 2016
Birzeit University continues the commencement ceremonies of the 41st cohort of students. University President Abdel Latif Abu Hijleh, members from the Board of Trustees, faculty, staff and the students families celebrated the graduation of the students from the faculties of Arts, Education and Science.
MORE . . .  
RELATED . . .

❷ SETTLERS  ARE  DAILY  RAZING  PALESTINIAN  LANDS  IN  NORTHERN  WEST  BANK
Palestine News Network – PNN
May 22, 2016
Israeli settler bulldozers on Sunday morning have razed Palestinian lands in areas south of Nablus and east of Salfit, northern West Bank.
___Eyewitnesses from Jalood nearby village said that the settlers have razed the lands where settlement units are being built outside of the Shvot Rahel settlement, without any media coverage.
___Eyewitnesses added that the bulldozers have been razing another land near the Ge’olat Zion illegal settlement which had already been approved by the Israeli government.      MORE . . .  
RELATED . . .   PALESTINIANS  CAPTURE  ISRAELI  EXTREMISTS  WHO  ATTACKED  FARMERS

❸ ISRAELI  NAVY  KIDNAPS  10  PALESTINIAN  FISHERS,  CONFISCATES  FIVE  BOATS
International Middle East Media Center – IMEMC
May 22, 2016
Israeli navy ships opened fire, on Sunday morning, at several Palestinian fishing boats near the shore in Gaza waters, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, kidnapped ten fishers, and confiscated five boats in two separate attacks.
___Zakariyya Abu Bakr, the head of the Fishers Committees of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees said the kidnapped fishers have been identified as . . . .
___They were all taken to an unknown destination, after the navy towed their boats.
___The attack is part of repeated Israeli violations against the fishers in the besieged coastal region, in addition to its attacks against Gaza farmers and workers, in Palestinian
lands close to the border fence.      MORE . . . 

❹   BLACK  PANTHERS [Oakland, CA, USA]  AND  DIASPORA  PALESTINIANS  ILLUMINATE  SHARED  STRUGGLE  ON  NAKBA  DAY
Palestine News Network
May 19, 2016
Arab Resources Organizing Coalition (AROC) and Art Forces on the 68th Nakba day presented George Jackson in the Sun of Palestine; a multimedia cultural event that expresses the interconnections between current and historic struggles against colonization from Palestine to the streets of Oakland.      MORE . . .
. . ❹ ― (ᴀ) PALESTINIAN  ART  COURT  AL  HOASH  HOLDS  “WHAT’S  NEXT”  EXHIBITION
Palestine News Network
May 17, 2016
On May 16th, community members, artists and art lovers gathered at Al Hoash gallery to attend the exhibition opening entitled WHAT’s NEXT. The exhibition supported by Switzerland, through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation – SDC, featured a collection of art works by 12 Palestinian artists from across Palestine and the diaspora, under Al Hoash’s Creative Industry project.      MORE . . .  

❺ Opinion/Analysis:  THE  COUP  AGAINST  ISRAEL’S  ARMY
Middle East Eye
Meron Rapoport
May 21, 2016
Replacing Ya’alon with Lieberman is another step in efforts by Israel’s new right-wing political elite to take over the state.
A military coup is a known political phenomenon in both ancient and recent history. The army storms the government’s palace and takes control. Yet what happened on 20 May in Israel, with the dismissal of defense minister Moshe “Bogy” Ya’alon and his replacement with Avigdor Lieberman, may be best described as a civilian coup by a right-wing political class against an army that stood in its way.       MORE . . .  
. . ❺― (ᴀ) BARGHOUTHI:  NETANYAHU’S  GOV’T  GOES  FROM  EXTREMISM  TO  INSANE  EXTREMISM
Palestine News Network
May 19, 2016
Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative, Dr. Mustafa Barghouti today described the appointment of Avigdor Lieberman defense minister in the Netanyahu government as an Israeli transition from extremism to “insane extremism.”    MORE . . .

“LETTER TO A WOMAN,” RASHID HUSSEIN

I waited for you―but, you were not born yet!
And the train is tooting, ready to pull out.
The train has learned from Man:
Not to be patient and not to have time!
And you are not yet born,
And the train wants to start
I’m sorry,
I have to board!

But I’m leaving this letter
In the café near the station.
When you get here, take a seat and ask for coffee,
Black coffee with white milk,
They’ll make a strange combination, the two colors,
Like the color of a modern man’s heart.

Then ask the waitress:
“Didn’t he leave a letter for me?”
And she won’t understand―But perhaps she’ll answer crossly:
“Everyone leaves letters here for everybody!
And all the letters say the same thing:
‘I love you, because I love me’!”

Then go to the kitchen and see the cook;
My letter may have gone to her for cooking;
And she may well say to you:
“In the soup I once found
A slip of paper that said:
‘Darling,
They’ve sent me to die for my country;
You – you try and live for us’!”

Then go to the café owner:
It is possible that the letter was lost
Among his bills and receipts;
It is also possible that he will hand you
A menu saying:
For half a pound: You get a cup of coffee
For a pound: You get a bottle of beer
For a human being: Only thirst!

Then leave the café!
Look no further for my letter,
For selections of it have already reached you―
Each section from someone else!

I’m very glad that these sections
Will reach you after you’ve been born,
For I think that if my letter had reached you
Before you were born
You would have preferred not
To be born in this century
And that would be a loss.

From: From: Aruri, Naseer and Edmund Ghareeb, eds. ENEMY  OF  THE  SUN:  POETRY  OF  THE  PALESTINIAN  RESISTANCE. Washington, DC: Drum and Spear Press, 1970. Available from Amazon.
About Rashid Hussein