❶ Knesset extends ‘racist’ emergency provision on Family Unification Law for 13th year

• “Israel’s Palestinian Minority In The Two-State Solution: The Missing Dimension”

❷ The Minister of Internal Security agrees to release the detained bodies of Jerusalemite Martyrs and the police will decide where to bury them
❸ Israel to build 258 illegal settlement units in Jerusalem
. . . ❸ ― (ᴀ) Key Muslim and Christian Holy Sites Erased From “Old City” Map

• “Israel: The New South Africa?”

❹ POETRY by Abu Salma
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❶ KNESSET  EXTENDS  ‘RACIST’  EMERGENCY  PROVISION  ON  FAMILY  UNIFICATION  LAW  FOR  13TH  YEAR
Ma’an News Agency
June 13, 2016
Israel’s parliament, the Knesset voted on Monday evening to re-extend Israel’s “Citizenship and Entry into Israel” provision, which prohibits Palestinians from the occupied West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip from automatically obtaining legal status in Israel or East Jerusalem through family unions.
___The law was passed 65 in favor, 14 against, according to press release published by the Knesset on Tuesday.        MORE . . . 

At present, there are approximately 1.3 million Palestinian citizens of Israel, comprising about 20 percent of Israel’s total population and about 12 percent of Palestinians worldwide.  This Palestinian population has been almost completely ignored by the international community. For decades, [in]international discussion . . . The Palestinian minority in Israel has received little, if any, attention [. . . .]
___A widespread and longstanding disregard for the Palestinian minority in Israel has been reflected in all of the accords, initiatives, conferences and summits aimed at achieving Israeli-Palestinian peace . . . . Not only has the Palestinian minority consistently been ignored; it has always been excluded from participating in the peace process itself. . . .  The reason for this omission lies in the prevailing view of the “Palestinian problem” as one primarily concerning Palestinians in the Occupied Territories and, secondarily, those in the Diaspora.
___This view, however, is too narrow. More than ever before, the “Palestinian problem” goes beyond the demand for statehood by Palestinians in the territories . . . the growing ethno-national conflict within Israel today between Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs should be viewed as part of the larger conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
[. . . .]
___Only a . . . solution that also involves improving the status and rights of the Palestinian minority within Israel can really resolve the century-long conflict between Zionism and Palestinian nationalism.

• Waxman, Dov. “Israel’s Palestinian Minority in the Two-State Solution: The Missing Dimension.” Middle East Policy 18.4 (2011): 68-82.   ARTICLE.

❷ THE  MINISTER  OF  INTERNAL  SECURITY  AGREES  TO  RELEASE  THE  DETAINED  BODIES  OF  JERUSALEMITE  MARTYRS
Wadi Hilweh Information Center – Silwan
June 13, 2016
The Minister of Internal Security and public prosecution agreed to release the bodies of Palestinian bodies without setting any deadlines.
___Lawyer Mohammad Mahmoud explained that the public prosecution responded today to the appeal he had submitted to the Supreme Court saying that after the Minister of Internal Security and police discussed all the procedures that came with releasing Martyrs’ bodies, they agreed to release the bodies to their families on conditions. . . . Another condition was also added which gives the police the option to choose the Islamic cemetery where the bodies will be buried.      MORE . . .

❸ ISRAEL  TO  BUILD  258  ILLEGAL  SETTLEMENT  UNITS  IN  JERUSALEM
The Palestinian Information Center
June 14, 2016
Reports have recently been released by Israeli pro-settlement groups on an Israeli plan to build 258 illegal settlement units in Occupied Jerusalem.
___These groups, one of which is affiliated with the Israeli army, said the planning committee in Occupied Jerusalem will discuss a scheme on Thursday June, 22 to build 258 settlement units on Palestinian lands in the villages of al-Issawiya, al-Tur, and Lefta.
___734 dunums of Palestinian lands have been confiscated by the Israeli occupation authorities to establish the projected Jewish settlement outpost.     MORE . . .
. . . ❸ ― (ᴀ) KEY  MUSLIM  AND  CHRISTIAN  HOLY  SITES  ERASED  FROM  “OLD  CITY”  MAP
International Middle East Media Center – IMEMC
June 13, 2016      MORE . . .

[. . . .] In reality, Palestinian citizens were discriminated against in all areas of public life since the early years of the young state, decades before Netanyahu’s government flooded the Knesset with racist bills.
___The 2010 report from Adalah, the Legal Centre for Arab Minority rights in Israel, identified over 30 laws that discriminate directly or indirectly against Palestinian citizens in terms of citizenship issues, the right to political participation, land and housing rights, educational, cultural and language rights, religious rights, and during detention on security charges . . . .
___If we look at the Law of Return (1950) and the Citizenship Law (1952), both are fundamentally discriminatory and serve to bolster the Jewish nature of the state . . . two laws allow Jews to immigrate freely to Israel from any part of the world and to gain citizenship, but exclude Palestinians who were forced to flee their homes between 1947-52, denying them any internationally recognised legal rights.
___In 2003, the government in Tel Aviv enacted the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law, publicly known as the ‘family unification law’. This law denies the right to Israeli residency or citizenship status to Palestinians from the Occupied Palestinian Territories, even if they are married to citizens of Israel (Jewish or Arab).
___Since 1948, the state of Israel has passed a series of laws that allowed it to systematically confiscate and transfer Palestinian-owned land to the state . . . .  Today, Palestinian citizens, who constitute a fifth of Israel’s population, own only 3-3.5% of the land, compared to 48% under Palestinian ownership in 1948. This massive land confiscation and its transfer to Zionist organisations was executed through two laws from the early 1950s . . .     ARTICLE.

POETRY  BY  ABU  SALMA   (ABDELKARIM  AL-KARMI)

  “GLORY  LIES  IN  THE  EARTH  OF  JIHAD”

Rub your face in the dust, say: This is my land!
Each particle sings that it is holy,
Free hearts lie buried in it,
How can I not make it my bed?
Stand at the Yarmuk, and look. Do you see,
The procession of history, with hope at its head?
The dust-trails rising from beyond the hill,
On the plains, cavalry ranked in rows?
The songs of victory are heard even now,
The chants of love from every valley rise.
Or do you see the Yarmuk bathed in tears,
Hitting far, far beyond the hosts?
My country, you are seeds of hope,
Watered by the tears of my heart.
What has wounded you?
Speak! The ruses of your sons, or of your foes?
Do not say that this is dead ground,
For it embraces those who were truly alive.
Protect that generation in the womb of your earth,
For free blood still calls, and is heard.
—Source