❶ Israel’s Fear of the ‘Desert’ Jews in Its midst
~~ From: Brown Journal of World Affairs
❷ Abbas Praises French Efforts, Supports International Peace Conference
. . . ❷ ― (ᴀ) Poll: 65% of Palestinians want Abbas out
~~ From: Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics & Culture
❸ Opinion/Analysis:  IMPARTIALITY  AND  GOOD  FAITH  ARE  ALIEN  TO  THE  U.S.  AND  ISRAEL;  THE  PALESTINIANS  MUST  LOOK  ELSEWHERE
❹ POETRY by Samih Al-Qasim
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ ISRAEL’S  FEAR  OF  THE  ‘DESERT’  JEWS  IN  ITS  MIDST
Palestine Chronicle
Jonathan Cook
June 22, 2016
In a little-noticed move last week, Israeli defense minister Avigdor Lieberman barred an official close to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas from entering Israel. Mohammed Madani is accused of “subversive activity” and “political terror”.
___His crimes, as defined by Lieberman, are worth pondering. They suggest that Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians is rooted less in security issues and more in European colonialism [. . . .]
___In his role as chair of the Palestinian committee for interaction with Israeli society, Madani had understandably used his visits to Israel to meet Israeli Jews – but he chose the wrong kind.
___He tried to open a dialogue with what are known in Israel as Mizrahim, Israelis descended from the Jews who emigrated from Arab states following Israel’s creation in 1948.       MORE . . .  

~~”What Is Left Of The Israeli Left?”
The mainstream Zionist Left in Israel is indeed a very atypical case study of leftist parties. Its agenda in all the years of the state’s existence did not include any support for a social democratic regime, which in the case of Israel would include catering to and subsidizing the three disadvantaged groups in Israeli society: the Mizrahim Jews, the Palestinians, and the ultra-Orthodox Jews. This Left is also not particularly feminist or environmentalist in its worldview, as most of the leftist groups around the world tend to be. Alas, we still have no analysis for this prioritization—namely the total nonalignment with the universal leftist agenda and its replacement with an idiosyncratic ideology focused on secularism and the willingness to withdraw from the territories occupied in 1967. The wish to be secular is closely associated with the wish to be part of Western civilization to which both the Mizrahi Jews and the Ultra-Orthodox allegedly do not subscribe. The Mizrahi Jews are seen as still too strongly connected to Arab culture, and the ultra-Orthodox Jews to pre-modern Europe.

• PAPPÉ, ILAN. “What Is Left Of The Israeli Left? (1948-2015).” Brown Journal Of World Affairs 22.1 (2015): 351-367.  SOURCE.

❷ ABBAS  PRAISES  FRENCH  EFFORTS,  SUPPORTS  INTERNATIONAL  PEACE  CONFERENCE
Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA
June 23, 2016
President Mahmoud Abbas Thursday praised the efforts exerted to support the French peace initiative and expressed hopes that such efforts would lead to holding an international peace conference.
___Abbas addressed the European Parliament in Brussels and commented on the ministerial meeting held in Paris in the presence of 28 states and three international organizations, saying “We hope to see results based on the international law, related Security Council resolutions, the Arab peace initiative and the roadmap. We want to set a timeframe for negotiations as well as form a follow-up mechanism similar to the one with Iran.”        MORE . . .
. . ❷  ― (ᴀ) POLL:  65%  OF  PALESTINIANS  WANT  ABBAS  OUT
Al-Monitor (Palestine Pulse)
June 21, 2016
The findings of a recent opinion poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research were clear and surprising.     MORE . . .  

“The European Union’s Role in Facilitating a Resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.”
The EU cannot play a mediating role in the reconciliation process, since it has ruled out direct political contact with Hamas. Nonetheless, it could use its considerable leverage with the PA to press the case for reconciliation on specific terms, while at the same time directing messages to Hamas and other Palestinian factions with the aim of strengthening the hand of those who are ready to engage in a genuine dialogue based on compromise leading to an end to violence as part of a broad Palestinian political platform. This could take the form of a national unity government, a unified leadership forum or some other model which ensures broad political participation. The EU has become sensitive to the charge that if the prospects of a two-state solution evaporate entirely, it will be left funding an occupation to the benefit of the occupying power. A very substantial and practical contribution the EU has made over the years is its support for the Palestinian state-building agenda. The significant assistance the EU has provided to the PA over more than 20 years has been predicated on the conviction that, by promoting the development of the institutions of a future Palestinian state based on respect for the rule of law and human rights, the EU is making a significant contribution to peace. The PA is a vehicle for statehood.

• Gatt-Rutter, John. “The European Union’s Role in Facilitating a Resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.” Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics & Culture 20.2&3 (2015): 6+.  ARTICLE.

❸ Opinion/Analysis:  IMPARTIALITY  AND  GOOD  FAITH  ARE  ALIEN  TO  THE  U.S.  AND  ISRAEL;  THE  PALESTINIANS  MUST  LOOK  ELSEWHERE
The Middle East Monitor – MEMO
Dr. Daud Abdullah
June 23, 2016
Of all the many massacres committed by Israel and Israelis against the Palestinian people, that which was carried out on 15th Ramadan in February 1994 was unique. Coming as it did just months after the signing of the Oslo Accords it was clearly an attempt to “derail” what then US President Bill Clinton described as “the peace of the brave”. This week’s shooting dead of a Palestinian boy, Mahmoud Rafat Badran, aged 15, by Israeli soldiers on the eve of the 23rd anniversary of the Hebron massacre was a chilling reminder of the failure of the Oslo process.
___Badran was not a “terrorist” and nor was he wanted for any crime. He was shot while returning home from a visit to a nearby swimming pool.      MORE . . .  

“I  MAY  LOSE  MY  DAILY  BREAD,”  BY  SAMIH  AL-QASIM
I may lose my daily bread, if you wish
I may hawk my clothes and bed
I may become a stonecutter, or a porter
Or a street sweeper
I may search in animal dung for food
I may collapse, naked and starved
Enemy of light
I will not compromise
And to the end
I shall fight.
You may rob me of the last span of my land
You may ditch my youth in prison holes
Steal what my grandfather left me behind:
Some furniture or clothes and jars,
You may burn my poems and books
You may feed your dog on my flesh
You may impose a nightmare of your terror
On my village
Enemy of light
I shall not compromise
And to the end
I shall fight.

“Poems of Resistance: 7 Poems for Palestine.” SCOOP  WORLD  INDEPENDENT  NEWS. January 2011. Web.
About Samih Al-Qasim