❶ Palestinian children commemorate International Day of Peace in Ramallah
❷ 23 Palestinians detained, dozens of houses ordered to be demolished in Jerusalem raids
❸ Secret Israeli Documents Reveal Violation of the Geneva Convention

• Background article from Journal Of The Historical Society

❹ POETRY by Fouzi el-Asmar
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❶ PALESTINIAN  CHILDREN  COMMEMORATE  INTERNATIONAL  DAY  OF  PEACE  IN  RAMALLAH 
Ma’an News Agency   
Sept. 21, 2016
A thousand Palestinian children directed a message of peace to the world on Wednesday as they convened in Ramallah to observe the International Day of Peace.
___In an event organized by the Palestinian Ministry of Education and the European Union (EU), the children released white pigeons and balloons marked with inscriptions reading “We want to live in peace” into the air.    ___Palestinian Minister of Education Sabri Saidam, Deputy Minister of Education Basri Saleh, EU representative Ralph Tarraf participated in the event, in addition to a number of representatives of international organizations.     MORE . . .   

❷ 23  PALESTINIANS  DETAINED,  DOZENS  OF  HOUSES  ORDERED  TO  BE  DEMOLISHED  IN  JERUSALEM  RAIDS  
Ma’an News Agency   
Sept. 22, 2016
Israeli forces carried out a massive detention raids into Palestinian communities in Jerusalem before dawn on Thursday for the second day in a row, detaining at least 23 Palestinians and assaulting locals — including a minor, while demolition orders were delivered to dozens of Palestinian homes during raids on Wednesday.
___Israeli forces raided the Shufat refugee camp in the Jerusalem district of the occupied West Bank as well as the occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya, located just south of Shufat beyond Israel’s separation wall.     MORE . . .     

❸ SECRET  ISRAELI  DOCUMENTS  REVEAL  VIOLATION  OF  THE  GENEVA  CONVENTION    
Palestine Chronicle
Sept. 22 2016
Israeli officials have acknowledged systematic violations of the Geneva Conventions in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, secret documents disclosed by Israeli newspaper Haaretz have revealed.
[. . . .]
The documents show how the Israeli government sought “to avoid application of the Geneva Conventions to the territories immediately after they were captured” and how “it tried to prevent international criticism of violations of the conventions.”
[. . . .]
One document, a “top-secret” cable sent in March 1968 to Israel’s then-ambassador in Washington, Yitzhak Rabin, states: “Our consistent policy has been and still is to avoid discussing the situation in the administered territories with foreign parties on the basis of the Geneva Conventions.     MORE . . .   

Blogger’s note: By excerpting this article, I do NOT mean to equate Israel with Nazi Germany. This is simply to show the parallels between the justifications for “ethnic cleansing” and forced evacuations of land, from the “Trail of Tears” in the United States, to South African Apartheid, to the Spanish destruction of the Aztec civilization, to Nazi Germany, to Palestine.

• Piskorski, Jan M. “From Munich Through Wannsee To Auschwitz: The Road To The Holocaust.” Journal Of The Historical Society 7.2 (2007): 155-175.   SOURCE.

. . .  “spontaneous” events of the so-called Kristallnacht of November 1938, when synagogues were burned and Jewish shops demolished, are today viewed by most historians as elements of terror. At the same time . . . the mouthpiece of the SS, Das Schwarze Korps, declared on November 24 that there was no place for Jews in Germany. They must be distinctly marked, moved to separate town sections, and deprived of their assets—a step that will throw them into poverty.
[. . . .]
Regarding the “evacuation” of the Jews . . .  because they are Germany’s eternal, primeval enemy: “We have the moral right, and we have had the obligation toward our nation, to do this—to root out the nation that has wished to root us out.”
___In Himmler’s view, the strength of the SS consisted of the fact that its members had the capacity to conduct murderous operations—to withstand those operations psychologically, while at the same time retaining their own “decency”. . .This is because . . . the Germans are known for their gentle disposition and deep emotions. For example, they are the only nation on earth to be kind to animals and thus they might also treat with decency those “human animals,” the Slavs—since the Jews were outside of any such categorization—and yet, “it would be a crime against our race to be bothered on their behalf, and to impart our ideals to them, so that our children and grandchildren have more trouble from them later.”
[. . . .]

BACKGROUND:   Nazi Bands Raid Thousands Of Jewish Homes In Reich, Paris Hears, November 12, 1939
Jewish Telegraphic Agency   [. . . .] Nazi bands shouting “British Agents!” were reported to be pillaging and demolishing Jewish homes throughout the Reich.   MORE . . . 

“I  AM  THE  SON  OF  THE  LAND,”  BY  FOUZI  EL ASMAR
You may take my hands
and lock them in your chains
You may also blindfold me.

You bereaved me
from the light
and I marched
You robbed me
of the bread
and I ate.
You plundered the land
from me
and I ploughed.

I am the son of the land
and for that
I find goodness in this earth
anywhere I happen to be:
The ants of this land
feed me
The branches of this land
foster me
The eagles of this land
will shield my open revolt

Yes
You may take my hands
And lock them in your chains
You may also blindfold me
But here I will stand tall
And here I shall remain
until the very end. (April, 1970) 

From: El Azmar, Fouzi. POEMS  FROM  AN  ISRAELI  PRISON. Intro. By Israel Shahak. New York: KNOW Books, 1973.    Available from Amazon
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