Note: the format today is a departure from our norm ― a number of news items touching on the topic “the Nakba is a continuum of injustice, denial and colonization” from the first item.

❶ PLO department shares video depicting ongoing elimination, dispossession of Palestinians
. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴀ) WATCH: Palestinians visit ruins of village destroyed during Nakba
❷ Israel aims new Nakba-style weapon at Arab citizens
. . . . . ❷― (ᴀ) Israel to expand Arial industrial zone at the expense of Salfit lands.
. . . . . ❷― (ᴃ) Tayseer Khaled: The new settlement plan on Qalandia airport land is being  prepared under the US administration cover
❸ Palestinians face biggest expulsion in years by settlers in Jerusalem
. . . . . ❸― (ᴀ) Palestinian Citizens in Israel: A Fast-Shrinking Civic Space
❹ Israeli settler who killed Palestinian in Nablus not being investigated as criminal suspect
. . . . . ❹ ― (ᴀ) VIDEO: Israeli settler passes out candy to celebrate killing of Palestinian in Nablus
❺ POETRY by Fouzi El-Asmar
` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
❶ PLO  DEPARTMENT  SHARES  VIDEO  DEPICTING  ONGOING  ELIMINATION,  DISPOSSESSION  OF  PALESTINIANS      
Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA   
May 19, 2017
Note: The video is not available from WAFA. It is included here for the statement, “. . . it is important to remember that this is not a commemoration of an event in the past; rather, the Nakba is a continuum of injustice, denial and colonization that perpetuates to this day. . .” 
The Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) Department of Culture and Information Thursday shared a video depicting the ongoing elimination and dispossession of the Palestinian people since 1947.
___On behalf of PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi, the department shared a video clip, Israel: Crime and Impunity, on the occasion of the 69th anniversary of the Nakba “the catastrophe.”  MORE. . . .
. . . . . ❶ ― (ᴀ) WATCH:  PALESTINIANS  VISIT  RUINS  OF  VILLAGE  DESTROYED  DURING  NAKBA
+972 Blog   
May 18, 2017
Descendants of Palestinians who were expelled from the village of Ma’alul during the Nakba visit the site of their former home to celebrate Easter in the church there — one of the few buildings left standing after the Israeli army destroyed the locality.  MORE . . . .
❷ ISRAEL  AIMS  NEW  NAKBA-STYLE  WEAPON  AT  ARAB  CITIZENS
+972 Blog
May 15, 2017
. . . .  the Israeli campaign to control land has never stopped. As Israel celebrates the 69th anniversary of its establishment — Palestinians commemorate the Nakba annually on May 15 — it is also brandishing its latest weapon against its remaining Arab citizens, designed to corral them into an ever-shrinking living space.
___According to Israel, the new so-called Kaminitz Law, which was enacted in April 2017, is intended to consolidate and streamline state powers in enforcing planning and building regulations.       MORE . . . .
. . . . ❷― (ᴀ) ISRAEL  TO  EXPAND  ARIAL  INDUSTRIAL  ZONE  AT  THE  EXPENSE  OF  SALFIT  LANDS.  VIOLATION:  EXPANSION  WORKS  ON  AN  INDUSTRIAL  ZONE  
POICA – Monitoring Israeli Colonization Activities in the Palestinian Territories      
May 2, 2017
The Israeli occupation government work day and night to take over more Palestinian lands for the favor of colonial expansionist plans in the West Bank area. According to Land Research Center field follow-up, the ravaging works are focused in the areas known as Khallet Al-Za’faran and Al-Harayeq from Bruqin village. More than 100 dunums were totally swept until the day of preparing this report. The aim behind the ravaging works is to create open a colonial road (1km* 6m) in the periphery of the targeted area, which is being exploited for the favor of expanding Arial Industrial Zone.
___Data of Land Research Center showed that the targeted lands belong to Sabra family from Bruqin town.  MORE . . .
. . . . . ❷― (ᴃ) TAYSEER  KHALED:  THE  NEW  SETTLEMENT  PLAN  ON  QALANDIA  AIRPORT  LAND  IS  BEING  PREPARED  UNDER  THE  US  ADMINISTRATION  COVER   
Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (Group 194)
May 2, 2017
Tayseer Khaled, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), a member of the Political Bureau of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), blamed the US administration for the consequences of Israeli housing ministry and the Israeli occupation municipality intention in Jerusalem, to implement a large settlement plan aimed at building 15,000 settlement units on the land of Jerusalem Airport and lands of Qalandia that surround the settlement area called “Atarot” which was established by the occupation authorities on the land of the citizens in north-west Jerusalem.   MORE . . . .
❸ PALESTINIANS  FACE  BIGGEST  EXPULSION  IN  YEARS  BY  SETTLERS  IN  JERUSALEM   
The Electronic Intifada
Charlotte Silver
May 17, 2017
A private settler organization is planning “the most extensive expulsion scheme in recent years,” in the Batan al-Hawa area of Silwan in occupied East Jerusalem, the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem is warning.
___The settler group, Ateret Cohanim, claims to own about an acre of land in the densely populated neighborhood near the al-Aqsa mosque.
___The group has filed eviction claims against the 81 Palestinian families who live there.
___B’Tselem says this concentration of evictions represents 45 percent of all Palestinians facing “dispossession on the basis of ethnicity” in East Jerusalem.  MORE . . .
. . . . . ❸― (ᴀ) PALESTINIAN  CITIZENS  IN  ISRAEL:  A  FAST-SHRINKING  CIVIC  SPACE   
Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network
Nadim Nashif, Raya Naamneh
January 13, 2016
Israel still portrays itself as a Jewish and democratic state. Yet in practice, as its Palestinian citizens can attest, it functions as a Jewish ethnocracy, leaving small margins of freedom for its Palestinian citizens that have been steadily shrinking in the past few years. Now the Israeli state has come under the complete control of the far right wing, which sees no need even for such limited margins of freedom. This is evident in the wave of discriminatory legislation and the use of the Emergency Regulations against established non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and movements such as the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel.        MORE . . .   

❹ Note:  Continuing from Headline News of May 18
ISRAELI  SETTLER  WHO  KILLED  PALESTINIAN  IN  NABLUS  NOT  BEING  INVESTIGATED  AS  CRIMINAL  SUSPECT   
Ma’an News Agency 
May 18, 2017
The Israeli settler who shot and killed one Palestinian and injured another on Thursday near the Huwwara village, south of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank, is not being investigated by Israeli police as a criminal suspect, according to Israeli news daily Haaretz.        MORE . . .  
. . . . . ❹ ― (ᴀ) VIDEO:  ISRAELI  SETTLER  PASSES  OUT  CANDY  TO  CELEBRATE  KILLING  OF  PALESTINIAN  IN  NABLUS    
Ma’an News Agency  
May 18, 2017
Following a deadly shooting carried out by an Israeli settler near the Huwwara village in the occupied West Bank district of Nablus, an Israeli settler distributed candy to passing Israeli vehicles south of Nablus on Thursday in celebration of the settler killing a 23-year-old Palestinian earlier in the day.      MORE . . .

“DREAMS  ON  A  MATTRESS  OF  THORNS,”  BY  FOUZI  EL-ASMAR

Oh my homeland
The whisper of the leaves I the breeze
Robs me of my sleep.
The darkness of the dawn
And the glance of my beautiful sister
Searching for our songs
Robs me of my sleep.

Lovebirds returning to their nest
At sunset
Kissing their nestlings
Rejoicing
Rob me of my sleep.

The silence of the night
Robs me of my sleep
Oh my country.

Sleep does not bless my eyelids
For there are nails in my eyes
Covered with the rust of many days
And the blast of drums in my eyes
Beaten by the arms of hatred.

And I run
I run
I run in order to wrap
The morning around my body.
I run towards my loved ones
I kiss them
I console them for the loss
Of their yesterday.

I tell them:
My loved ones
Forget the yesterday
Let us fold it
And bury it in the ground
The day is ours
The morrow is ours
They carry the sun
Of our destiny.

My loved ones
Do not fear.
Despite the delayed dawn
despite the dagger
Stabbed deep into your hip
We shall arrive.

We shall arrive
On the wind
Among the clouds
Under the zenith
Among the bleating sheep
Among the drops of sweat
Adoring the face of the workman
Aspiring with great long for
His land.

We shall come
On the sun rays we shall come
Have no fear
We shall come.

Fouzi El-Asmar
From:  El-Asmar, Fouzi. THE  WIND-DRIVEN  REED  AND  OTHER  POEMS. Washington, D.C.: Three Continents Press, 1979.   Available from Amazon.