❶ UN: 46 areas in West Bank ‘at risk of forcible transfer’
❷ Israel opens construction tenders for the expansion of illegal Maale Adumim settlement
❸ PCHR Weekly Report: One civilian killed, 33 wounded, 73 abducted by Israeli forces this week

• Background:“Israel’s Palestinian Minority in the Two-State Solution: The Missing Dimension.” Middle East Policy 

❹ POETRY by Tawfiq Ziad
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ UN: 46 AREAS IN WEST BANK ‘AT RISK OF FORCIBLE TRANSFER’
Days of Palestine
Aug. 20, 2016
United Nations warned that 46 Palestinian residential areas in Central West Bank are “at risk of forcible transfer” due to increasing Israeli settlements.
___David Carden, Head OCHA oPt, delivered a speech on the occasion of the opening the school year in Khan al-Ahmar, one of the ‎Palestinian community at risk of forcible transfer in Central West Bank, and launched his warning.
___Carden delivered the speech on behalf of the UN Coordinator for Humanitarian Aid and Development Activities Robert Piper.
___“We come here today to express our solidarity with the people of Khan al-Ahmar, long identified as a community at risk of forcible transfer and with whom the international community has worked closely for many years,” he said.
___”As we know, Khan al-Ahmar is one of 46 residential areas in the Central West Bank identified as being at risk of forcible transfer due to Israeli relocation (settlement) plans,” he said.    MORE . . .

❷ ISRAEL OPENS CONSTRUCTION TENDERS FOR THE EXPANSION OF ILLEGAL MAALE ADUMIM SETTLEMENT
Ma’an News Agency
Aug. 20, 2016
The Israeli Land Authority (ILA) and the Maale Adumim Economic Development Company Saturday opened four tenders for leasing land, establishing a hotel, and constructing a park in the illegal Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, according to Israeli media.
___Two tenders were published to lease land for renewable 49 year contracts, while the others were for building a hotel and park near the industrial zone of the settlement, according the Israeli newspaper Kol Hair.
___The six-story hotel will reportedly be the first in the settlement, and is planned to be built over 2,300 square meters. It will also be located near the mall.     MORE . . .

❸ PCHR WEEKLY REPORT: ONE CIVILIAN KILLED, 33 WOUNDED, 73 ABDUCTED BY ISRAELI FORCES THIS WEEK
International Middle East Media Center – IMEMC
August 20, 2016
In its Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories for the week of 11– 17 August 2016, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) found that Israeli forces continued systematic crimes in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
___A Palestinian civilian was killed while 32 others were wounded in al-Fawar refugee camp, south of Hebron. A Palestinian civilian was wounded in the eastern side of al-Bureij in the Central Gaza Strip.      MORE . . .

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

[. . . .]
Thus, if Palestinians in the territories abandon their demand for an independent state and instead demand equal rights within Israel, Palestinians in Israel could easily join them in demanding a single bi-national state within the whole territory of Israel/Palestine. As long as the occupation continues and the Palestinian minority in Israel is completely marginalized; the chance of this happening — a “nightmare scenario” for Israel — steadily increase. There are already signs of growing support for the one-state solution among Palestinians in the territories, and, although most Palestinian citizens of Israel are currently opposed to this, some prominent individuals have voiced support for it. One thing is certain: there is absolutely no way Israeli Jews will accept a one-state solution. They will staunchly resist it, even at the cost of war.
[. . . .]
Respecting the rights of all parties to the conflict — Jewish citizens of Israel, Palestinian citizens of Israel, Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, and Palestinian refugees in the Diaspora — is the only way to eventually achieve peace and reconciliation.

[Note: In this blogger’s opinion some of the conclusions the above article are faulty, but they are based in sound reasoning and are, therefore, ideas worth considering.]

“I  CLASP  YOUR  HANDS,”  BY  TAWFIQ  ZAYYAD
I call upon you
And clasp your hands.
I kiss the dust under your shoe
And say: I’ll lay down my life for you,
Grant you the gift of eyesight in my eyes.
The warm love in my heart I give to you,
For the tragedy I live
Is but my share in your larger tragedy.

I call upon you
And clasp your hands.
I never stooped in my country
Nor will I ever be humbled.
Orphaned, naked and barefoot
I confronted my oppressors,
Carrying my blood in my palms.
I have never lowered my flags,
And have always tended the grass over my ancestors’ graves.
I call upon you, and clasp your hands!

From THE  PALESTINIAN  WEDDING:  A  BILINGUAL  ANTHOLOGY  OF  CONTEMPORARY  PALESTINIAN  RESISTANCE  POETRY. Ed. and Trans. A. M. Elmessiri. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2011. Reprint from Three Continents Press, Inc., 1982. Available from Palestine Online Store.
Tawfik Zayyad (Tawfiq Ziad) was a Palestinian poet, writer, scholar and politician. He was born in Nazareth in 1929 and died on July 5, 1994.   (More. . .)